According to the U.S., it shared intelligence information with Ukraine regarding the location of the Russian cruiser Moskva before the strike that sank warship. This was a highly publicized failure for Russia’s military.
A U.S. official claimed Thursday that Ukraine was the one who targeted and sank the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship using its anti-ship missiles. The official said that the U.S. provided intelligence to help locate the ships in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s coastline.
The intelligence sharing between the United States and Ukraine has been increased by the Biden administration, as well as the shipping of weapons and missiles to aid it in resisting Russian invasion. As Republicans pressure the White House to show more support for Ukraine’s resistance, and as polls indicate that Americans are questioning whether President Joe Biden is tough enough on Russia, the disclosure of U.S. support for the Moskva strike is a sign that the White House is not being too hard on Russia.
The White House tried to find a balance between supporting Ukraine as a democratic ally and not doing anything that could provoke war between Putin and NATO allies. The White House has increased its intelligence and military support to Ukraine, eliminating some geographic and time limitations on the information it will share about Russian targets.
According to the official speaking Thursday, the U.S. did not know that Ukraine was planning to strike the Moskva until they had conducted the operation. NBC News reported the first time about the American involvement in the sinking.
After a New York Times article about the U.S. involvement in Ukraine’s killings of Russian generals, John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesperson, stated that American agencies “donot provide intelligence on the locations of senior military officers on the battlefield or take part in the targeting decisions made by the Ukrainian military.”
Kirby stated that Ukraine combines the information we provide with intel they are collecting and then makes their own decisions and takes their own actions.
