Russia claims Ukrainian-British plot to hijack hypersonic missile thwarted | News about the Russian-Ukrainian war

Russian military plane pilots lured with money and Western citizenship to take part in false flag operation, Moscow claims.

Russia has foiled a Ukrainian-British plan to hijack a MiG-31 fighter jet equipped with a hypersonic missile and use it to carry out a false flag attack on a major NATO air base, the country's State Security Service said.

The FSB, Russia's domestic intelligence agency, said in a statement carried by state media on Tuesday that the alleged operation was led by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and “its UK handlers”.

The purpose of the plot was to persuade a Russian pilot to fly a MiG-31 armed with the Dagger air-launched ballistic missile – a key weapon in Moscow's arsenal – to the Romanian city of Constanta, where NATO is building its largest air base in south-east Europe.

The plane would then be shot down by air defenses, providing a “large-scale provocation.”

Russian state television has shown pictures of messages and recordings of a man it says works for Ukrainian and British intelligence.

The person reportedly offered the pilot $3 million to participate in the scheme, as well as citizenship of any European country of his choice.

An FSB official claimed that the British-based Bellingcat group – which has been branded “undesirable” by the Russian government – was involved in the operation or was used as a cover or intermediary, according to state news agency TASS.

Russia's security service has criticized its Ukrainian and British counterparts for demonstrating a “lack of originality in the plots”, pointing to a similar accusation made in 2022, months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.

At the time, the FSB said the UK was involved in a Ukrainian operation to hijack an advanced Sukhoi Su-34 fighter jet, ransoming the pilot and offering Western citizenship.

Bellingcat did not immediately respond to the allegation of involvement in the latest lawsuit. The organization did reject the FSB framework in the 2022 allegations.

Russia, Ukraine and its Western allies continue to fight a vicious information warfare as the war on the ground shows little sign of abating.

Russian ground forces have been pushing deeper into eastern Ukraine in an attempt to seize control of more land and resources, but movement along the front line remains gradual.

The two countries are also engaged in a war of attrition in the skies as they launch hundreds of airstrikes against each other daily.

Russian attacks, some using Dagger missiles, are heavy damaged Ukrainian energy infrastructure in the past week.