Kremlin “propaganda” is underway, according to Ukraine. Kyiv and Bucharest on Tuesday denied Moscow’s accusations that Ukraine and its British ally were seeking to divert Russian warplanes equipped with Kinjal hypersonic missiles to Romania.
Russia, which launched a major offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, frequently accuses Kyiv and its European allies of attacking its interests on its soil, often without providing evidence.
Early Tuesday, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had ended “an operation by the Intelligence Service of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and its British escort aimed at diverting the Russian armed forces’ MiG-31 fighter aircraft abroad, which was carrying the Kinjal hypersonic missile.”
“Typical tactics”
The Ukrainian Center for Combating Disinformation, an agency within Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, on Tuesday called the accusations “propaganda.” “Spreading such false accusations is a typical tactic of Russian intelligence agencies,” he said on social media.
According to the FSB, the plane was supposed to be transported to the NATO military air base in Constanta, in Romania, located on the shores of the Black Sea, where it could have been “shot down” by an anti-aircraft defense system, the FSB further explained.
Romanian Foreign Minister Toiu Oana called the accusations “far-fetched” and compared them to “Soviet spy novels” in his Tuesday message to X. “However, what is real is Russia’s aggression and provocation, which these stories about planes and spies are trying to cover up,” he added.
Another reckless Russian attack on Ukraine impacted Romanian territory. Last night’s Russian bombing of Ukraine’s commercial port infrastructure resulted in drone fragments falling on populated areas in Romanian territory.
This action is part of a series of…— Toiu Oana (@oana_toiu) November 11, 2025
In an FSB video broadcast by Russian television, a person with a hidden face, who appeared as one of the pilots approached, claimed to have been offered, via email, by Ukrainian intelligence to “kill” the plane’s commander before hijacking the plane, in exchange for three million dollars and obtaining “Western citizenship.”
In “response to this provocation”, Russian forces carried out attacks using Kinjal missiles on the Ukrainian army’s electronic intelligence center in Brovary, on the outskirts of Kyiv, and the air base in Starokostiantyniv in the Khmelnitsk region, according to the FSB cited by the official TASS news agency.
The announcement comes as Russia, whose forces are better equipped and more numerous, continues to advance in eastern Ukraine and particularly in the Donetsk region where most of the fighting is concentrated.
US President Donald Trump’s diplomatic efforts to end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II have stalled.
