Vladimir Putin’s officials have blamed the US for a Ukrainian attack on the annexed territory of the Crimean peninsula’s Sevastopol with reportedly five US-given missiles. The attack killed four and injured more than 150 people.
“Responsibility for the deliberate missile attack on the civilians of Sevastopol is borne above all by Washington, which supplied these weapons to Ukraine, and by the Kyiv regime, from whose territory this strike was carried out,” the Russian defence ministry said.
It claimed that four of the US-delivered Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, equipped with cluster warheads, were shot down by air defence systems and the ammunition of a fifth had detonated in mid-air.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration gave a nod to Ukraine for using the longer range missiles to hit territories inside Russia in response to an escalating offensive by Russian troops which targeted Ukrainian cities.
This comes as the UN nuclear watchdog called for an immediate halt to attacks on a Ukrainian town near the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after drone strikes this week hit two electricity substations serving the area.