USATODAY: Did US and Britain aid Ukraine attack on Russia's Black Sea fleet?
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Sep 27 '23, 07:18
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Ukraine said the attack Friday killed or wounded more than 100 Russian military members and destroyed a navy headquarters building in Crimea. Updates.
By John Bacon, USA TODAY
The Ukraine military's stunning missile strike on a Russian naval base in Crimea last week was carried out at the request of and in close coordination with the U.S. and Britain, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed Wednesday.
Ukraine has said the attack Friday killed or wounded more than 100 Russian military members and destroyed a headquarters building for the Black Sea Fleet. Russia has said little about the strike, but Zakharova said the goal was to distract attention from Ukraine's slow-moving counteroffensive and to "trigger panic" among the Russian public.
"There is not the slightest doubt that this attack was pre-planned with the use of Western intelligence means and NATO satellite equipment and spy planes," Zakharova told state media. The Pentagon has said the $44.5 billion in U.S. military and "security assistance" to Ukraine since January 2021 has included satellite imagery services, surveillance and thermal imagery systems.
Ukraine had claimed that a top Russian admiral was killed in the assault. But Russia has released multiple videos of Viktor Sokolov that Moscow says were taken since the attack. Ukraine said it is attempting to "clarify" its claim.
Developments:
∎ Ukraine will mark a Day of Defenders on Sunday with a minute of silence for those who have died serving the country, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced: "A minute of honor. A minute of silence. And eternity of memory for our fallen defenders."
∎ Ukraine Security Service cyberspecialists detained two Kyiv residents accused of providing the Russian military with coordinates for a missile attack on Kyiv last week.
Kremlin building railway connecting seized Ukraine cities to Russia
Russia has started building a railway connection to Ukraine that could provide a crucial alternative to Kremlin forces dependent on the Crimean Bridge, an advisor to the occupied city of Melitopol's mayor said Wednesday. Petro Andriushchenko said work has begun connecting Ukraine's southeastern Donetsk rail line −from Mariupol to Volnovakha − with the Russian cities of Taganrog and Rostov-on-Don. If completed the new rail line could provide a drastic reduction in dependence on the Crimean Bridge, which has been damaged multiple times by Ukraine strikes that have inhibited its use for days, week or months at at time.
"It's not just chatter, they started building a railway bridge...across the Kalmius River," Andriushchenko wrote on Telegram.
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