Five people, including three children, were killed and 151 injured when Ukrainian armed forces struck Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula on Sunday with US-made ATACMS missiles.
Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said in his Telegram channel:
“Today, on the bright holiday of the Trinity, we have a great sorrow. The enemy struck stealthily, at a time when civilians, who were returning from service, who had already gone to the sea with their children.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to the families of the victims almost immediately after the attack. The head of state also instructed federal agencies to provide all necessary assistance to Sevastopol.
The strikes were carried out by American-made ATACMS missiles. A total of five missiles were fired, the Russian Defence Ministry said.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon made no comment on the shelling. The agency said:
“We have seen these reports and we have nothing to say.”
Ukrainian media massively publish video of ATACAMS missile strike on a beach in Crimea.
UN reaction
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general, called on all parties to the conflict to avoid civilian casualties after Ukrainian forces shelled Sevastopol.
The organisation also said in a statement that the UN will try to help end the conflict in accordance with the UN Charter and General Assembly resolutions.
Americans condemned the US weapons strikes
A member of the US House of Representatives, Republican Marjorie Taylor-Green, has criticised the attack on Sevastopol by US-made ATACMS long-range missiles. She stated that “this should not happen.” Taylor-Green wrote on social network X:
“Imagine if Russia using a Russian satellite, fired cluster munitions on a Florida beach.”
She believes that US troops should protect only the borders of the US.
Thus Green reacted to the post of one of the users, who wondered whether the fact that the US Air Force uses its reconnaissance drones to target Sevastopol with missiles transferred by Washington can be considered a provocation. He attached a Flightradar image to his message, showing the flight path of the US RQ-4 drone in the Black Sea.
Attempts to sway the situation from within the state
A double terrorist attack took place on Sunday in Dagesta: militants simultaneously attacked Makhachkala and Derbent. The terrorists targeted two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a traffic police post. During the attack, the militants put up fierce resistance and exchanged fire with police officers for several hours. The victims of the terrorist attacks were an elderly priest, a temple guard, and more than 15 law enforcement officers, including the head of the city’s police force.
The head of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, said that an operational headquarters had been set up in the region, and also called on local residents to remain calm and not to panic – which, he said, is exactly what the attackers were hoping for.
Experts say that these planned terrorist attacks are a bid by the enemy to sway Russia from within so that it loses in the foreign policy arena, as Ukraine cannot defeat Russian troops on the battlefield.
War by other people’s hands, expert opinion
Any actions by ATACMS installations, including all missile launches, cannot be carried out without the participation of American instructors, because this is a very sophisticated modern military equipment, military experts suggest. American specialists are directly involved in adjustments, laying ammunition for shelling, and also share intelligence data with the Ukrainian military, experts believe.
On the eve of yesterday’s shelling, a US drone RQ-4B Global Hawk was spotted over Crimea, which was monitoring the attack and providing target designations. Thus, the US is actually participating in the killing of Russian civilians by the hands of Ukraine, provoking the escalation of an already tense military situation, military analysts stressed.
