On Friday, the Pentagon said it had no information about the reasons for the recent explosions at a Russian military base in Crimea, stressing that the United States had not supplied Kyiv with weapons to carry out such an attack, reports AFP.

A Russian military airport in Saky, in Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, was badly damaged on Tuesday by a series of explosions that Moscow said were accidental but which experts attributed to an attack by Ukrainian forces.

Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack, and numerous explosions filmed by witnesses who later posted videos on social media remain unexplained.

“We don’t have anything to indicate whether there was a missile launch or not, I can’t say whether it was sabotage or not,” a senior US military official told reporters. “I do not know.”

“What I can tell you is that it was not an ATACMS strike because we didn’t give them ATACMS,” the senior official added on condition of anonymity, referring to the 300-kilometer-range tactical ballistic missiles that Kyiv is trying to destroy. persuade Washington to provide

The missiles, which are compatible with the high-precision Himars artillery systems already in use by Ukrainian forces, would allow Kiev to strike deep into territory controlled by Moscow, something the United States is trying to avoid for fear of spillover to NATO countries.

“We did not provide them with anything that would allow or help them strike Crimea,” said a high-ranking military officer.

At the same time, he emphasized that the US does not control the Ukrainian military.

“We want the Ukrainians to fight the Russians the way they want,” he said.

“We have told them in the past that we are giving them ammunition to fight the Russians in Ukraine,” he added. “Besides, this is a Ukrainian war, they choose targets.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, but the annexation was not recognized by the international community.

The US fears the deployment of ATACMS tactical missiles

HIMARS can also launch ATACMS tactical missiles with a range of about 300 kilometers, but the Pentagon has not fielded them due to concerns that the missiles could land in Russia itself. This disappointed Ukrainian officials, who called it a paternalistic decision.

In a battle now largely fought with artillery at ranges where opposing forces rarely see each other, the longer-range missiles would also allow Ukrainian forces to move their HIMARS further from the front lines, better isolating them from enemy detection.

“The sooner we receive them, the more lives we will save for our fighters and the sooner we will start a counteroffensive operation,” said People’s Deputy of Ukraine Yehor Cherniev. “It’s unfortunate that we have to spend weeks and months trying to convince our partners.”

At the end of May, when the decision to provide HIMARS was made, President Biden told reporters that “we are not going to send missile systems to Ukraine that can hit Russia.” At the press conference, Lloyd Austin and US General Mike Milley sidestepped the question of whether the Pentagon would provide ATACMS. “We wonder what they are working with [acum] it gives them a lot of opportunities,” Milley said.

The Americans have said they want to see the Ukrainians use and absorb certain capabilities into their arsenal before sending more advanced weapons, even if the possible delays cost lives.

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