![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Screen-Shot-2025-03-30-at-3.53.01-PM.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/67e6c41185f540221067a8d9.png\")
<\/div>\nRT.com<\/p>\n
France and the UK actively aided Kiev in a strike on the Sudzha pipeline infrastructure in Russia\u2019s Kursk Region on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has told journalists. Earlier the Russian Defense Ministry said that a metering facility was\u00a0\u201cde facto destroyed\u201d<\/em>\u00a0in a Ukrainian HIMARS attack.<\/p>\n \u201c[We] have reasons to believe that targeting and navigation were facilitated through French satellites and British specialists input [target] coordinates and launched [the missiles],\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Zakharova said, commenting on the strike.<\/p>\n \u201cThe command came from London,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she said, branding the attack part of a Ukrainian\u00a0\u201cterror\u201d<\/em>\u00a0campaign targeting Russian energy infrastructure. The spokeswoman added that such actions demonstrate that Kiev is\u00a0\u201cimpossible to negotiate with.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Although Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky\u00a0\u201cpublicly supported\u201d<\/em>\u00a0a temporary suspension of strikes on energy infrastructure agreed by Moscow and Washington, he\u00a0\u201cdid nothing to observe it,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0according to Zakharova.<\/p>\n Moscow ordered that attacks on Ukraine\u2019s energy infrastructure cease on March 18, following a phone call between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Russia and the US also agreed on a list of energy facilities that should not be targeted as part of a truce earlier this week. The list included gas facilities.<\/p>\n Kiev also agreed to a US-proposed 30-day partial ceasefire following talks between Ukrainian and American delegations in Saudi Arabia on March 15. Zelensky hailed the development and even described it as a diplomatic\u00a0\u201cvictory\u201d<\/em>\u00a0for Ukraine, but did not publicly mention any relevant orders to the Ukrainian military.<\/p>\n The Russian Defense Ministry has regularly reported on Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the past few weeks. Earlier on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that the strike suggested that the Ukrainian military no longer follows Kiev\u2019s orders due to a\u00a0\u201ctotal lack of supervision.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Paris and London have emerged as the staunchest supporters of Ukraine in the face of a gradual shift in Washington\u2019s position under the new Trump administration. In early March, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron said that their nations were ready to lead a\u00a0\u201ccoalition of the willing\u201d<\/em>\u2014a group of pro-Ukrainian countries prepared to support Kiev with troops and aircraft.<\/p>\n Russia has vehemently rejected any possibility of NATO-aligned European troops deploying to the conflict zone. It has accused France and Britain of hatching plans for\u00a0\u201cmilitary intervention in Ukraine,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0which could lead to a direct armed clash between Russia and NATO.<\/p>\n