US intelligence helped Ukraine attack Russian ships, officials say

WASHINGTON – The United States provided intelligence that helped Ukrainian forces locate and attack Russia’s Black Sea fleet last month, another sign the administration is easing self-imposed restrictions. questions about how far they will go in helping Ukraine fight Russia, US officials say.

The targeted assistance, which contributed to the eventual sinking of the flagship Moscow, is part of the Biden administration’s continued confidential effort to provide real-time battlefield intelligence to Ukraine. That intelligence also includes sharing of expected Russian troop movements, gleaned from a recent U.S. assessment of Moscow’s operational plans for the fighting in the Donbass region. eastern Ukraine, officials said.

The administration has sought to keep much of the battlefield and maritime intelligence that it is sharing with the Ukrainians secret, fearing it would escalate and provoke Russian President Putin into a war. larger picture. But in recent weeks, the United States has accelerate heavy weapons to Ukraine and claim an extraordinary sum of 33 billion dollars in additional military, economic, and humanitarian aid from Congress, demonstrating how rapidly U.S. restraints on assisting Ukraine are changing.

Two senior US officials said that Ukraine had obtained Moscow targeting data and that the US provided only confirmation. But other officials say US intelligence was the deciding factor in Ukraine’s sinking.

US intelligence assistance to attack Moscow was previously reported by NBC News.

On April 13, Ukrainian forces on the ground fired two Neptune missiles, which struck the Moskva and caught fire resulting in the sinking of the warship. Attention was also focused on whether the old ship’s radar system was functioning properly. Ukrainian and US officials say Moscow may be distracted by Ukraine’s deployment of a Turkish-made Bayraktar drone nearby.

Immediately after the strike, Biden administration officials fell silent, refusing to confirm even if the Moskva train had been attacked. But in recent days, US officials have confirmed that targeting data from US intelligence sources was provided to Ukraine in the hours before the Neptune missile was launched.

Officials declined to say what specific information had been transferred, but one official said that information was not simply a report of the ship’s location in the Black Sea, about 65 nautical miles from Odessa. South.

The sinking is a major blow to Russia and the most significant loss to any navy in the past 40 years.

Russia denied Ukrainian missiles played any role in the downing of the Moskva, claiming instead that a fire on board caused a bomb explosion that destroyed the ship. Independent Russian news agencies based outside the country have reported that about 40 men died and 100 more were injured when the battleship was damaged and sunk.

Biden administration officials declined to publicly confirm that US intelligence provided targeted information that allowed Ukraine to attack Moscow.

The Pentagon press secretary, John F. Kirby, asked about a report in The Times of London that a Navy P-8 surveillance plane from Sigonella Air Base in Italy was tracking the Moskva. before it was attacked by Ukraine. Black Sea as part of a careful response: “There has not been any targeting of any US Navy P-8s flown during these air control missions,” he said.

A US official said the Ukrainians asked the Americans about a ship sailing in the Black Sea south of Odessa. The United States has identified it as Moscow, and confirmed its location. The Ukrainians then targeted the ship. The Ukrainians carried out the attack without the US knowing in advance. The official said the United States had provided confirmation to the Ukrainian military, but other officials said they were not sure Ukraine could have hit the ship without American support.

American officials have acknowledged publicly that actionable intelligence was provided to the Ukrainians prior to the Russian invasion on February 24, and that this activity has continued for several weeks since there. But these officials have shied away from confirming US involvement in the Ukrainian operations that led to the deaths of Russian soldiers.

The US assessment of Russia’s war plan in the Donbas region allowed a senior Pentagon official to say last week that Russia appeared to be “a few days behind” in its attack there. because of stiff Ukrainian resistance and ongoing supply line problems.

Russian forces can always deviate from their plans, but US officials say intelligence allows Ukrainian forces to avoid attack in some locations and position themselves to attack Russians in other locations.

Although the administration remains wary of provoking Putin to the point that he escalates attacks further – President Biden said he will not send US troops to Ukraine or establish a “no-fly zone” there. — current and former officials say the administration finds some value in warning Russia that Ukraine has the weight of the United States and NATO behind it.

Officials said Moscow has its own calculations to consider, including whether it can deal with a larger war, particularly one that would allow NATO to adopt its common defense charter. themselves or go to war more directly.

New York Times report on wednesday that US intelligence on Russian movements provided to Ukraine allowed Kyiv to target and kill a number of Russian generals. On Thursday, Mr. Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, acknowledged sharing intelligence with the Ukrainians but provided few details.

However, Mr. Kirby said Ukraine has its own intelligence sources, which they combine with other sources and select targets to attack. “They decide for themselves,” Mr. Kirby said. “And they carry out their own actions.”

In an interview Thursday with CNN, Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who heads the House Intelligence Committee, said the Biden administration has disliked discussing intelligence-sharing. reported for fear of saying anything that “would escalate the conflict”.

“We are providing real-time intelligence to Ukraine to help Ukraine defend itself,” Schiff said. “I don’t think the administration wants to go into specifics about what types of cases, but we want to make sure that Ukraine succeeds.”

For decades, the Moskva, a powerful embodiment of Russian naval power in the Black Sea, armed with missiles and towering over the horizon, wowed those who saw it.

But US Navy officials who toured Russian cruisers during US-Russian military cooperation in the late 1990s and early 2000s said the Moskva had problems. There is very little damage control equipment on board a battleship to allow quick access to extinguish the fire on board.

Officials said they could not see fire extinguishers or fire hydrants in the aisles across the ships. On American ships, such devices are stored nearby to allow crews to quickly extinguish onboard fires, which are very dangerous at sea.

Russian media reported that a fire on the ship ignited an ammunition depot, severely damaging the Moskva ship. American officials believe the Neptune missile most likely caused a fire that the crew could not prevent before the aging ship sank as it was towed back to port.

“The Russian military has long debated whether to retire Moscow,” said Michael Kofman, director of Russia studies at CNA, a think tank in Arlington County, Va.

But with a shortage of cruisers and destroyers, Moscow finally decided to expand its operations. In fact, it was Moscow’s guns that fired on Ukraine’s Snake Island in the first days of the war.