Russia's UK ambassador has partly blamed Britain for its alleged role in Ukraine's recent drone attacks which, he believes, escalates the conflict to 'WW3'.
Last Sunday (1 June), Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) announced it had destroyed more than 40 military aircrafts in a drone attack inside Russia’s territory.
SBU sources told the BBC that they took out '34 percent of [Russia's] strategic cruise missile carriers', which reportedly amounted to £5 billion in damage.
"The SBU first smuggled FPV drones into Russia, followed later by mobile wooden cabins. Once on Russian territory, the drones were hidden under the roofs of these cabins, which had been placed on cargo vehicles," the sources claimed.
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"At the right moment, the roofs were remotely opened, and the drones took off to strike the Russian bombers."
Andrei Kelin, Russia's UK ambassador, has now issued a warning to Ukraine, claiming that its actions 'are bringing the conflict to a different level of escalation' and they should 'not try to engulf World War III'.
"That's the very worst case scenario that we can imagine," Kelin told Sky News.
The 68-year-old believes the UK must have partly helped Ukraine with the drone attacks, adding: "[This] kind of attack involves, of course, provision of very high technology, so-called geospaced data, which only can be done by those who have it in possession.
"I don't believe that America [is involved], that has been denied by President Trump, definitely, but it has not been denied by London.
"And this is London and Washington. We perfectly know how much London is involved, how deeply British forces are involved in working together with Ukraine."
A Downing Street spokesperson said: "We never comment on operational matters at home or abroad."
It comes after Donald Trump - before his public fallout with Elon Musk - said he spoke with Vladimir Putin on the phone about the attacks.
"It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace," he wrote. "President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields."
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attacks 'will undoubtedly be in the history books,' but later insisted that he still wants to end the war.
On social media, he wrote: "Many have spoken with Russia at various levels. But none of these talks have brought a reliable peace, or even stopped the war. Unfortunately, Putin feels impunity."
He said that 'with every new strike, with every delay of diplomacy, Russia is giving the finger to the entire world - to all those who still hesitate to increase pressure on it'.
Topics: Russia, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, UK News
Anish Vij