The latest so-called “proof” offered by Kiev that Russia is targeting civilian operations in Ukraine comes with an “American” angle, designed to provoke Washington. However, the devil is in the details.
Ukraine’s acting president Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted this morning on Facebook: “This night the Russian army set one of their crazy anti-records. We were on civil infrastructure enterprises, residential buildings, on our people. Spent several winged missiles against an American company in Transcarpathia. It was a common civil enterprise, an American investment. They produced such common household items as coffee machines…. And this blow was struck by the Russians as if nothing was changing at all. As if there is no effort in the world to stop this war. Need a reaction to this one.”
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha’s posting](https://x.com/andrii_sybiha/status/1958400557007138983) called it: “A completely civilian facility with nothing to do with defense or the military. No military logic or necessity, only terror against people, business, and normal life in our country. This is not the first Russian attack on American businesses in Ukraine, after strikes on Boeing offices in Kyiv earlier this year and other attacks…. This is why efforts to force Russia to end the war are so critical and we reiterate Ukraine’s willingness to make every effort to bring peace closer. The meetings of leaders in a bilateral Ukraine-Russia and trilateral Ukraine-U.S.-Russia formats are crucial to enable diplomacy.”
What this unabashed narrative failed to mention is that the “coffee machine factory” is a part of Flex Ltd, and the first item in the Bloomberg profile is “defense and aerospace.” Further, the Ukrainian subsidiary, Flex Ukraine, whose Transcarpathia warehouse in far western Ukraine, was hit overnight by Russian Kalibr missiles, was more famous, not for coffee machines, but as a facility that produces printed circuit boards, control systems, microprocessor units, and assembly components for military equipment and UAVs. Reportedly, it localized Western supplies of electronics, including processors, microcontrollers, power supplies, and telemetry units used in the production of Bayraktar TB2, Warmate, Punisher, and Vampire UAVs, with its products involved in around 90% of all drones produced in Ukraine.
The Pentagon allocated $800 million to finance drone production in Ukraine last year, and in September 2024, President Biden committed another $1.5 billion. Despite complete silence by Ukrainian officials as to any electronic equipment being used at Flex Ukraine for their heavily promoted drone production, the plant still draws inspections from the Transcarpathian Regional Military Administration. For example, on May 8, its head, Myroslav Biletskyi, and its deputy head, Vasyl Ivancho, came to inspect the electronic production lines.
Western media will amplify the “reports” of Zelenskyy and Sybiha, but will President Trump succumb to the noise, or will he conclude that he is dealing with reckless fraudsters?
