Russia Blames US for Deadly Missile Attack on Crimea

AFP/APP

Moscow: Russia on Sunday said the United States had responsibility for a Ukrainian missile attack on Russian-annexed Crimea, which it said killed four people, including two children, and wounded over 100.

A missile exploded above a beach area of the city of Sevastopol, firing shrapnel at people relaxing there, Russian-appointed officials said.

Russia’s defence ministry said Washington and Kyiv bore “responsibility for a deliberate missile strike on peaceful residents”, which it said used US-supplied #ATACMS missiles.

Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhayev initially said in a Telegram video the attack had killed three children and two adults, and wounded nearly 120 people.

He later revised the toll to four dead and 151 people requiring medical care, of whom 82 had been hospitalised.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had called to “offer his condolences”, Razvozhayev added.

The Black Sea port city and naval base on the Crimean peninsula was annexed by Russia in 2014 but is still internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.

Sevastopol regularly comes under fire from Ukraine but Sunday’s attack was unusually deadly. Razvozhayev said the attack hit Uchkuyevka, an area with sandy beaches and hotels.

Videos posted on social media showed people running from the beach as explosions went off and people in swimming outfits carrying a stretcher. AFP could not verify their authenticity.

A local news channel on Telegram, ChP Sevastopol, cited witnesses as saying that an elderly woman was killed as she swam in the sea.

Washington said in April that it had provided longer-range ATACMS missile systems to Kyiv, which had long urged allies for weapons allowing it to strike Russia farther beyond the front lines.

Neither the United States nor Ukraine had commented on the Sevastopol strike.