By Man Faulconbridge and Filipp Lebedev
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia stated on Sunday that the US was answerable for a Ukrainian assault on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula with 5 U.S.-supplied missiles that killed at the very least 5 folks together with three kids and injured 124 extra.
The Russian Defence Ministry stated 4 of the U.S.-delivered Military Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, geared up with cluster warheads, had been shot down by air defence methods and the ammunition of a fifth had detonated in mid-air.
The ministry stated U.S. specialists had set the missiles’ flight coordinates on the idea of data from U.S. spy satellites, which means Washington was immediately accountable.
“Accountability for the deliberate missile assault on the civilians of Sevastopol is borne above all by Washington, which equipped these weapons to Ukraine, and by the Kyiv regime, from whose territory this strike was carried out,” the ministry stated.
The USA started supplying Ukraine with longer vary ATACMS missiles, which have a 300-km vary, earlier this yr.
Reuters was unable to instantly confirm battlefield studies from both facet.
Tv footage on Russian state tv confirmed folks working from a seaside and a few folks being carried off on solar loungers.
Russian-installed authorities in Crimea stated missile fragments had fallen simply after midday close to a seaside on the north facet of the town of Sevastopol the place locals had been holidaying.
A minimum of 124 had been injured, Russian Well being Minister Mikhail Murashko stated. The injured included 27 kids, 5 of whom are in a critical situation, authorities stated.
RUSSIA VOWS RESPONSE
Russia will reply to Sunday’s assault, the Defence Ministry stated, with out elaborating. The Kremlin stated President Vladimir Putin has been “in fixed contact with the army” because the assault on Sevastopol.
Neither Ukraine nor the US has commented on the assault, which got here on a day when Ukraine stated one particular person had been killed and 10 others wounded by Russian strikes on the japanese Ukrainian metropolis of Kharkiv.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and now views the Black Sea peninsula it as an integral a part of its territory, although a lot of the world considers it nonetheless as a part of Ukraine.
Putin has repeatedly accused the U.S. of utilizing Ukraine to undermine Russia’s personal safety – one thing Kyiv and its Western allies deny – and has warned of rising dangers of a direct confrontation between Moscow and the U.S.-led NATO alliance.
Putin despatched tens of 1000’s of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, in what he forged as a defensive transfer towards a hostile and aggressive West. Ukraine and the West say Russia is waging an imperial-style conflict of aggression and a land seize.
