KYIV: Russia on Wednesday accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and conduct last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters (HQ) in annexed Crimea.
“There is no doubt that the attack had been planned in advance using Western intelligence means, NATO satellite assets and reconnaissance planes and was implemented upon of the advice of American and British security agencies and in close coordination with them,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.
Moscow has repeatedly claimed that the US and its NATO allies have effectively become involved in the conflict by supplying weapons to Ukraine and providing it with intelligence information and helping plan attacks on Russian facilities.
The accusation came the day after video appeared to show the fleet’s commander, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, was still alive despite Ukraine’s claims without providing supporting evidence that he was among 34 officers killed in Friday’s strike on the port city of Sevastopol.
The Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has been a frequent target since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine 20 months ago.
Crimea has served as the key hub supporting the invasion and has increasingly come under fire by Ukraine. Ukraine said the strike that put a large hole in the main building of the headquarters had wounded 105 people, though those claims could not independently be verified.