The United States provided Ukrainian forces with information used to carry out an attack in April that resulted in the sinking of the Russian cruiser Moskva, NBC News reported Thursday.
American intelligence confirmed the location and the identity of the ship after a request by Ukrainian forces, NBC News reported, citing U.S. officials. The officials claimed the United States had no idea that the Ukrainians planned to attack the Moskva and no American officials were involved in any decision about whether to carry out the attack.
“We were not involved in the Ukrainians’ decision to strike the ship or in the operation they carried out,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement released after NBC News’ publication of the story. “We had no prior knowledge of Ukraine’s intent to target the ship. The Ukrainians have their own intelligence capabilities to track and target Russian naval vessels, as they did in this case.”
The Moskva, a Slava-class guided missile cruiser that served as the flagship of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet, sank after being hit by two anti-ship missiles on April 14 with most of its crew of 510.
The United States gives Ukraine intelligence on Russian naval units to help Ukrainian forces protect the country from attacks, U.S. officials told NBC News.
U.S. intelligence provided to Ukrainian forces through a classified program reportedly has been used to target Russian generals. Twelve generals have been killed in strikes by Ukrainian forces.
The National Security Council did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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