US weapons not used to attack Crimea airbase, Pentagon claims
The United States claims that its weapons were not used to "attack" the Russian Saki airbase in Crimea as Moscow denies there being an attack, to begin with.
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Satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows Saki air base in Crimea (AP)
The US Department of Defense denied on Friday any accountability in the attack that took place on Russia's Saki airbase in Crimea, claiming that no weapons supplied by Washington were used to attack the airbase and that it did not know the cause of the explosions at the site.
The Ukrainian armed forces are believed to be behind the offensive that caused a series of explosions to rock Crimea on Tuesday.
Several Russian Telegram channels reported that local residents had not heard the thud of artillery thus ruling out a missile attack.
No one has officially claimed responsibility, and it remained unclear what caused the explosions at the Saki airbase.
Russia said the incident was an accident, though many are suggesting that what happened was an attack. However, the United States was quick to claim that it had not given Ukraine anything that would allow its forces to strike that far into Russian territories despite all the munition and weapons it gave Kiev.
"We haven't provided anything that allows or that would enable them to strike into Crimea," a senior US defense official told reporters.
The official specifically said it could not have been a US precision-guided, medium-range tactical missile, known as ATACMS, which can be launched by US-supplied HIMARS systems already in Ukraine.
"It was not ATACMS, because we have not given them ATACMS," the defense official added.
Pentagon has no information to indicate whether or not there was a missile attack on the base, or whether it was an act of sabotage, he added.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that ammunition exploded at an airfield in Crimea on Tuesday, but no one was injured.
The explosions at Saki airfield occurred on the 167th day of the Ukraine war, and Moscow is still investigating the attack, noting that the airfield was not attacked.
Last month, a drone attack targeted the Russian fleet located in the port of Sevastopol, Crimea, and wounded five, the city's mayor, Mikhail Rrazvozhayev, said.
"An unidentified object flew into the courtyard of the Fleet Headquarters, according to preliminary data, it is a drone. Five people were injured, they are members of the fleet headquarters, and there were no deaths," Razvozhayev said on Telegram.
