Egypt was allegedly planning to secretly supply Russia with weaponry that could aid its invasion of Ukraine, a major leak of classified US documents suggested.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi spoke to senior military officials about supplying rockets, munitions, gunpowder and artillery rounds to the Kremlin, according to restricted files seen by The Washington Post on Tuesday.
The leak, which is thought to have started in an internet chatroom, has rocked Washington and exposed new details of US intelligence gathering.
The paper reported that in a document dated February 17, Mr Sisi instructed officials to keep the shipment of rockets confidential in order to “avoid problems with the West”.
Asked about the documents ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, a spokesman for Egypt’s foreign ministry, said: “Egypt’s position from the beginning is based on non-involvement in the crisis.”
He added that Egypt had urged “both parties to cease hostilities and reach a political solution through negotiations”.
Egypt is seen as one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East, with Washington supplying more than $80 billion in military and economic aid to the country since 1978. US sources said there was no evidence the weapons were ever supplied to Russia.
It comes as a top Ukrainian commander said Putin is seeking to destroy the eastern town of Bakhmut in “scorched earth tactics”.
Russian forces pounded several frontline towns in the Donetsk province of the Donbas region, Ukraine’s general staff reported.
Ukrainian soldiers managed to repel several attacks, it added, as the Russian military kept up its effort to take control of Bakhmut, though overall its offensive action is believed to have declined.
“The enemy switched to so-called scorched earth tactics from Syria. It is destroying buildings and positions with air strikes and artillery fire,” said colonel general Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces.
Russian elite troops are being deployed for the battle for Bakhmut after Putin’s Wagner “private” army suffered such heavy losses, according to Ukrainian military sources.
They said that SPETSNAZ special forces and VDV airborne units were being sent for the attempt to seize the town, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Separately, the Ministry of Defence in London highlighted Russian media reports that TOS-1A thermobaric multiple launch rocket systems had been transferred to VDV forces.
“The TOS-1A, which Russia designates as a ‘heavy flamethrower’, is typically operated by Russia’s specialist troops in Ukraine, and has not previously been formally associated with the VDV,” the MoD’s latest intelligence update added.