US ‘gave Ukraine intelligence’ on Moskva’s location
Washington shared information before missile strike that led to cruiser’s sinking, officials say
The United States has said it shared intelligence with Ukraine about the location of the Russian missile cruiser Moskva before the strike that sank the warship, an incident that was a high-profile embarrassment for Russia’s military.
However, the Pentagon yesterday denied that it played a direct role in the strike.
The Ukrainians attacked the cruiser on April 14 with landbased anti-ship missiles. It is still unclear how many casualties resulted from the attack. The Moskva had a crew of about 500. After the attack, Moscow had claimed that the ship sank due to a fire on board.
An American official said on Thursday that Ukraine alone decided to target and sink the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
But given Russian attacks on the Ukrainian coastline from the sea, the US had provided “a range of intelligence” that included locations of those ships, said the official, who was not authorised to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.
The United States has ramped up intelligence sharing with Ukraine alongside the shipment of arms and missiles to help it repel Russia’s invasion.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby yesterday said in a statement that the US “did not provide Ukraine with specific targeting information for the Moskva”, although he did acknowledge that the US and allies routinely shared intelligence with Ukraine.
“We were not involved in the Ukrainians’ decision to strike the ship or in the operation they carried out,” he said. “We had no prior knowledge of Ukraine’s intent to target the ship.”
The official who spoke on Thursday also said the US was not aware that Ukraine planned to strike the Moskva until after it conducted the operation.
The disclosure of US support in the Moskva strike comes as the White House is under pressure from Republicans to do more to support Ukraine’s resistance, and as polls suggest Americans question whether President Joe Biden is being tough enough on Russia.
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion in February, the White House has tried to balance supporting Ukraine against not doing anything that would provoke a direct war between Russia and the US and Nato allies.
As the war has gone on, the White House has ramped up its military and intelligence support, removing some time and geographic limits on what it will tell Ukraine about potential Russian targets.
Ukraine has been particularly successful in attacking Russian command positions, and, according to reports, came close last week to striking a location near the front lines in the Donbas region where Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, was believed to be visiting troops.
Ukrainian forces might have shelled the location just a few hours after Gerasimov had left, the unconfirmed reports said.
The revelations about the Moska came amid unconfirmed reports lst night that a second major Russian naval ship had been hit by an Ukranian strike and was on fire.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Anton Gerashchenko claimed on his Telegram page that the frigate Admiral Makarov was hit by a Ukrainian “Neptune” anti-ship missile. He cited Russian sources.
Gerashchenko said Russian navy ships stationed in Crimea were sent to help the guidedmissile frigate which had been sailing close to Snake Island, where Ukrainian soldiers rebuffed the Moskva’s demands to surrender at the start of the invasion.
On Monday, Kyiv said its drones sank two Russian patrol boats near Snake Island, which is in the Black Sea south of Odesa.