After Russia blames the US, the Pentagon says Ukraine makes its own targeting decisions
A White House National Security Council spokesman said any loss of civilian life is a tragedy. (Source: Bloomberg)
The Pentagon said Monday that Ukraine is making its own targeting decisions after the Kremlin directly blamed the United States for an attack on Crimea that it said was carried out with U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles and killed at least four people arrived and 151 were injured.
The war in Ukraine has sparked the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, and Russian officials have said the conflict is entering its most dangerous escalating phase yet.
But directly blaming the United States for a deadly attack on Crimea — which Russia annexed in 2014 and now considers Russian territory, even though most of the world considers it part of Ukraine — is a step further.
“Ukraine makes its own targeting decisions and conducts its own military operations,” said Maj. Charlie Dietz, a Pentagon spokesman.
A White House National Security Council spokesman said any loss of civilian life is a tragedy.
“This certainly also applies to the thousands of innocent Ukrainians who have been killed by Russian forces since the start of this Russian war of aggression,” the spokesperson said.
At least two children were killed in the attack on Sevastopol on Sunday, according to Russian officials. Video showed people running from a beach near Sevastopol and some injured people being taken away on sun loungers.
Russia said the United States had supplied the weapons, while American military specialists targeted the weapons and provided data for them.
Russia summoned US Ambassador Lynne Tracy to the State Department, where she faced accusations that Washington was “waging a hybrid war against Russia and had effectively become a party to the conflict.” The attack, Russia told Tracy, would “not go unpunished. There will certainly be retaliation.”
First print: June 24, 2024 | 10:03 PM IST