Kremlin adviser says NATO and the West helped Ukraine attack Russia

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Kremlin adviser Nikolai Patrushev said on Friday that the US-led military alliance and the West were directly involved in planning Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s Kursk region.

Patrushev, in an interview for the Izvestia newspaper, said that the claims of the United States that they were not involved in the attack are not true.

“The operation in the Kursk region was also planned with the participation of NATO and Western special services,” Patrushev was quoted as saying.

“Statements by the US leadership that it was not involved in Kiev’s murders in the Kursk region are not true… Without their direct participation and support, Kiev would not have ventured into Russian territory.”

The White House said Ukraine did not give advance notice of its incursion and that Washington was not involved in the operation.

The Russian Ministry of Defense released images showing US weapons on Russian sovereign territory in Kursk.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Tom Hogue)