The US Pentagon has asserted that it has no information on the cause of the recent explosions at a Russian base in Crimea, which the international community did not recognize when Russia annexed it in 2014. “We have no evidence of whether or not there was a missile launch, I can’t say whether or not there was sabotage,” a senior US military official told reporters on Friday, Aug. 13. “I do not know.”
Russia’s Saki military airport was badly damaged by a series of explosions on Tuesday, which Moscow has described as accidental but experts say were an attack by Ukrainian forces. Kyiv took no responsibility for this attack and the numerous explosions filmed by witnesses who later posted videos on social media remain unexplained.
“What I can tell you is that it wasn’t an ATACMS attack because we didn’t give them ATACMS,” added the senior officer, who asked not to be identified, regarding tactical ballistic missiles with a range of 300km, what Kyiv is trying to convince Washington to deliver. These missiles, which are compatible with the Himars precision artillery systems already at the disposal of the Ukrainian armed forces, would allow Kyiv to hit deep targets in Moscow-controlled areas, which the United States has ceded to fears of widening the conflict with NATO countries try to avoid.
“We have not provided them with anything that would enable them or help them attack Crimea,” the senior military official noted. However, he stressed that the United States does not control the Ukrainian army. “We want Ukrainians to fight Russians the way they want,” he said. “We have told them in the past that we will give them ammunition to fight the Russians in Ukraine,” he added. “Apart from that, it’s a Ukrainian war. You choose the targets.”
Without attributing the attack to Ukrainian forces, the senior officer stressed that it had “quite a 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 multi-role aircraft had been destroyed or badly damaged, but that the runway was “probably” still usable. “Saki was primarily a base for Russian Black Sea Fleet aircraft,” military intelligence tweeted. “The fleet’s sea air capabilities are now greatly reduced.”