(Washington) The Pentagon assured Friday that it had no information on the cause of the recent explosions on a Russian military base in Crimea, while stressing that the United States had not delivered to Kyiv any weapon not allowing them to carry out a such strike.
Posted at 3:35 p.m.
The Russian military airport of Saki, in Crimea annexed in 2014 by Russia, was heavily damaged on Tuesday by a series of explosions presented as accidental by Moscow, but which experts attribute to an attack by Ukrainian forces.
Kyiv did not claim responsibility for this attack and the multiple explosions, filmed by witnesses who later posted videos on social networks, remain unexplained.
“We have nothing to indicate whether there was a missile launch or not, I can’t say whether there was sabotage or not,” a senior US military official told reporters. ” I do not know “.
“What I can tell you is that it wasn’t an ATACMS strike, because we didn’t give them ATACMS,” the senior officer, who requested anonymity, added, referring to tactical ballistic missiles with a range of 300 km, which Kyiv is trying to convince Washington to supply.
Compatible with the Himars precision artillery systems already available to the Ukrainian forces, these missiles would allow Kyiv to strike targets deep in territory controlled by Moscow, which the United States seeks to avoid for fear of an extension of the conflict to NATO countries.
“We have not provided them with anything that enables or helps them strike Crimea,” the senior military official noted.
Without attributing the attack to Ukrainian forces, he stressed that it had a “rather significant impact” on the Russian air force.
British military intelligence estimated on Friday that at least five Russian Su-24 fighter-bombers and three SU-30 multirole aircraft had been destroyed or heavily damaged, but that the airstrip was “probably” still usable.
“Saki was primarily a base for Russian Black Sea Fleet aircraft,” military intelligence tweeted. “The naval air capabilities of the fleet are now greatly reduced”.