So, there we have it: after months of our worrying and warning that the increasing US involvement in the war in Ukraine could lead to a direct confrontation against Russia, the two nuclear superpowers appear on the very edge of conflict.
Ukraine shot US-supplied ATACMS with cluster munitions over a Crimean beach filled with people enjoying their Holly Trinity holiday killing four people and injuring almost two hundred – many in critical condition.
This is specially ominous because it is widely alleged that the handling of this missile technology depends on the ‘help’ of ‘advisers’ – American Ones.
Not only that, but the selection of targets is done using satellite and drone imaging provided by the US to its Ukrainian allies.
So the immediate repercussions are Russia warning of a response, while unconfirmed rumors say a Russian Mig-31 jet would have downed a US Reaper surveillance UAV over the Black Sea.
Beachgoers in Crimea hit by fragmentation shells of a ATACMS missile.
Don’t ask for whom the bell toes: it tolls for all of us.
The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the US ambassador to protest the use of U.S.-made advanced missiles in the Ukrainian attack on the Crimean beach.
Associated Press reported:
“Washington ‘has effectively become a party’ to the war on Ukraine’s side, the ministry said in a statement, adding, ‘Retaliatory measures will certainly follow’. It did not elaborate.”
The Pentagon authorized Ukraine’s military to use its longer-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia ‘if it is acting in self-defense’.
One is hard-pressed to think this beach attack fulfills this description.
“Russian authorities said that the dead in Sunday’s attack included two children who were hit by falling debris from Ukrainian missiles that were shot down over a coastal area in Sevastopol, a port city in Crimea. It said cluster munitions, which critics say harm more civilians than combatants, were also used.
[…] The targeting and ‘mission input’ for such missile attacks is carried out by U.S. military experts, the ministry statement alleged, saying the United States bears “equal responsibility for this outrage” with the Ukrainian authorities.
It went on to say that ‘allowing strikes deep inside the Russian territory will not be left unanswered’.”
Meanwhile, a flurry of rumors – most likely false ones – say that a Russian fighter jet shot down a U.S. military drone – described either as either an MQ-9 Reaper or an MQ-4C ‘Triton’, over the Black Sea airspace.
These claims come from Russian media outlets closely affiliated with the country’s military, and more than just simple hoaxes, they precisely indicate what’s next in store.
There has been no official confirmation from the Russian Ministry of Defense or the U.S. Department of Defense.
Defense Security Asia reported:
“In response to the Russian media allegations, pro-Western military social media accounts claim that the U.S. drone merely switched off its transponder while operating in the Black Sea.
They state that flight tracking applications showed that upon returning from the Black Sea operation, the U.S. drone reactivated its transponder, indicating a safe landing at Sigonella Air Base in Sicily, Italy.”
Sputnik had retired senior US security analyst Michael Maloof describing what many feel will happen now.
“The fact that a drone was there providing the intelligence and data, and the use of ATACMS missiles, which requires US participation, clearly shows the escalation by the United States now. […] I think [Russian President Vladimir Putin] is going to start taking out these drones. I suspect that this will be his way of responding to the US escalation, by escalating against those instruments used by the United States to help pinpoint targets.”
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