Russian claims that the US was behind yesterday’s strikes in Crimea are “ridiculous” and “hyperbolic”, according to a spokesperson for the US state department.
Officials say four people died and around 150 more were injured in the attack as missile debris fell on a beach in Sevastopol in occupied Crimea.
Russia’s defence ministry said the missiles used by Ukraine were US-supplied ATACMS missiles, and claimed US specialists programmed them.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow earlier today that the “involvement of the United States, the direct involvement, as a result of which Russian civilians are killed, cannot be without consequences”.
During a US state department briefing, spokesperson Matthew Miller was asked about Russia’s claims, which he said were unfounded and wrong.
“I don’t have any assessment of the underlying attack, including who was responsible for it. But you have seen Russia make ridiculous claims about responsibility in the past,” he said.
“You might recall after the terror attack in Moscow in March, they blamed the US despite the US warning them about the attack.
“It’s not unusual for Moscow to make ridiculous, hyperbolic claims about responsibility that aren’t born out of facts.”
Mr Miller had previously been asked about the strikes in Crimea, to which he said the US laments any civilian casualties in the ongoing war.
On providing weapons to Ukraine, Mr Miller added: “We provide weapons to Ukraine so that it can defend its sovereign territory against armed aggression, including in Crimea, which, of course, is part of Ukraine.
“Russia could stop this war today and end the suffering caused by the war Russia launched if it ended its occupation of sovereign Ukrainian territory and stopped launching attacks on civilians.”
