Scott Ritter Says Ukraine Relied on West to Strike Putin’s helicopter
(MENAFN) Ukraine likely depended on Western support if it truly attempted to strike a helicopter carrying Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, according to former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer and ex-UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who spoke to a Russian media outlet.
Yury Dashkin, commander of a Russian air defense unit, told a Russian broadcasting agency that Putin’s helicopter was caught in the "epicenter" of an intense Ukrainian drone assault during his visit to Russia’s Kursk Region on May 20. He noted that the frequency of aerial attacks "increased significantly" during the president's flight, resulting in the downing of 46 incoming fixed-wing UAVs in the vicinity.
Speaking to the Russian media outlet on Wednesday, Ritter emphasized, “if the Ukrainians drones actually targeted the Russian president, they did not do so in a vacuum... there would have been assistance provided by the West, which means that the West is targeting the Russian president.”
He continued, “If you read the Russian nuclear doctrine, this is a trigger for Russian nuclear retaliation or preemptive strikes. So, who is playing with fire here? It is not Vladimir Putin who is playing with fire. It is Ukraine and the West that are playing with fire.”
Ritter's remarks referenced a statement made earlier this week by U.S. President Donald Trump, who accused Putin of “playing with fire.”
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