Andrei Kelin, Russia’s ambassador to Britain, laid responsibility for the June 1 Ukrainian drone attack on Russian strategic airfields directly on London. “This kind of attack involves, of course, provision of very high technology, so-called geo-spatial data, which can only be done by those who have it in possession. And this is London and Washington,” he said during an interview with Sky News on June 5. “I don’t believe that America [is involved], that has been denied by President Trump, but it has not been denied by Britain.” He added that “We perfectly know how much London is involved, how deeply British forces are involved in working together with Ukraine.” Kelin warned that Ukraine’s actions were “bringing the conflict to a different level of escalation” and said Kiev should “not try to engulf [us in] World War III.”
Kelin went on to say that such actions as the June 1 drone strikes on Russia’s strategic potential “take the conflict to a new, more dangerous level of escalation. And therefore, it is better to avoid them, to better understand and remember what exactly we are doing. We are now dealing with a limited conflict, which, of course, has an impact on the security of all of Europe. However, it must remain limited, without developing into something bigger. We should not allow escalation, we should not provoke developments along the path leading to World War III. This is the worst of all possible scenarios.”
One British minister queried by Sky News still didn’t deny British involvement in the strikes. Asked if the U.K. had provided Ukraine with this technology, Steve Reed, the environment secretary, said: “I’m not going to speculate on something when I don’t know what the facts were.” He said that “we as a government, cross-party actually, are standing foursquare alongside Ukraine as they fight—try to defend themselves—against a brutal, unprovoked and illegal attack and invasion.”
Challenged if this escalation could risk Britain’s getting sucked into the conflict with Russia more directly, the cabinet minister responded: “I do know that the people of this country and the government of this country want to stand alongside Ukraine. We need peace to happen in that region, we can’t allow Russia to get away with invading any more countries.”
