Estonian intelligence officials have not made such statements. According to the Estonian intelligence services, the increasingly frequent shelling of Ukraine’s infrastructure is evidence of Russia’s fear of the arrival of American F-16 fighters in the Ukrainian army.
Russian media are spreading manipulative news that Western intelligence agencies have allegedly admitted the “effectiveness” of Russia’s massive air attacks on Ukraine. In support of their conclusions, the Russian media cited the “words” of Ants Kiviselg, head of the Estonian Defense Forces Intelligence Center, who allegedly believes that “Russian long-range aircraft and Kalibr missiles strikes cause significant damage to Ukrainian military facilities, despite Kyiv’s denial of this.”
The Russian media manipulated the actual statement of the Estonian intelligence chief. During a press conference on January 12, Ants Kiviselg commented on the massive shelling by Russia that increased during the New Year holidays. According to Kiviselg, the strikes during the holidays “are a deliberate act of the Russians, who are obviously trying to undermine the will of the Ukrainian people to defend themselves.”
The head of the Estonian Defense Forces’ intelligence center also noted that Russia’s tactics are still oversaturated with various types of missiles and attack drones that simultaneously hit Ukraine’s territory from different directions. The wave of attacks on December 29 and January 2, according to Estonian intelligence services, shows Russia’s fear of the arrival of American F-16 fighters in Ukraine. That is why, Ants Kiviselg emphasized, the occupiers have intensified shelling of Ukraine’s infrastructure.
“All over the country, hits have been made on ports, electricity and railway infrastructure, military airfields, weapons and ammunition depots and military training facilities as well as defense industry enterprises engaged in the production and repair of weapons. The violation of the airfields indicates that the Russians consider the arrival of F-16s in Ukraine’s arsenal as dangerous,” said Ants Kiviselg.
At the same time, the Estonian intelligence chief did not make any statements about the “effectiveness” of such attacks or the “successful” destruction of Ukrainian targets. These are Russian propaganda speculations. The pro-Kremlin media not only threw out Kiviselg’s words about Russia’s fear of the F-16s entering Ukrainian service, but also removed any mention of the psychological impact of strikes on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure on the civilian population.
Under international law, Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian critical infrastructure can be regarded as war crimes that have no statute of limitations and are subject to the jurisdiction of courts around the world. Read more about this in StopFake’s pieces Fake: Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry is Blackmailing Germany and Fake: Czech Republic is Afraid of Responsibility for Complicity in Crimes of Ukrainian Armed Forces.
