The United States has been helping Ukraine carry out long-range strikes on Russian energy facilities for months in a concerted effort to weaken the economy and force President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Sunday, Reuters reported.

American intelligence has helped Kiev strike key Russian energy assets, including oil refineries, far beyond the front lines, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed Ukrainian and American officials familiar with the campaign.

The White House, the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. There was no immediate comment from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Moscow said this month that Washington and its NATO allies were regularly providing intelligence to Kiev in the war that Putin launched in February 2022.

“The delivery and use of the entire infrastructure of NATO and the United States for collecting and transmitting intelligence information to the Ukrainians is obvious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at the time.

The FT writes that American intelligence is helping Kiev shape route planning, altitude, timing and mission decisions, allowing Ukrainian drones with long range and single-strike capabilities to evade Russian air defenses.

The United States is closely involved in all stages of planning, the publication said, citing three people familiar with the operation.

A US official was quoted as saying that Ukraine selected the targets for long-range strikes, and then Washington provided intelligence on the sites' vulnerabilities.

Earlier this month, two US officials told Reuters that Washington would provide Ukraine with intelligence on long-range energy infrastructure targets in Russia as it considers whether to send Kiev missiles that could be used in such strikes.

The United States has also asked NATO allies to provide similar support, US officials said.

President Zelensky said on Saturday that he discussed Russian attacks on the Ukrainian energy system in a"positive and productive" conversation with US President Donald Trump.

"We discussed the possibilities of strengthening our air defense, as well as specific agreements that we are working on to ensure this. There are good options and solid ideas on how to really strengthen us," Zelensky wrote in X.