US intelligence made the difference in attack on Moskva

The US was involved indirectly in the Ukrainian attack on the Moskva guided-missile cruiser, Russia’s Black Sea fleet flagship, last month, US officials have revealed for the first time. Since the devastating hit on the Moskva which sank two days later with the loss of an estimated 200 lives, the US has been careful to avoid any suggestion that a US Navy Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft over the Black Sea on the day of the attack had played any role in pinpointing the warship. US sources familiar with the intelligence background to the strike on the Moskva on April 12 told The Times last night: “The Ukrainians are able to detect and track ships in the Black Sea with their own intelligence capabilities. But on that occasion they reached out to the US to confirm that it was the Moskva and we confirmed it. “But we were not involved in the decision to strike the ship nor were we involved in the operation. So it was not a situation where the Ukrainians said to us ‘we’re about to hit the Moskva and can you confirm it is the Moskva’. We confirmed it but they were going to do their own thing. We can’t say how we confirmed it,” the sources said. A US official said: “We do provide a range of intelligence about the threat posed to Ukraine from Russian ships in the Black Sea but we don’t provide target information on ships. They have their own capabilities. “We consider that intelligence we are giving is defensive in nature because the ships are close to Ukraine and pose a threat not just to the coastal cities but to the whole of Ukraine because of their long-range missiles. “On the question of the Moskva we didn’t provide specific target information and we were not involved in Ukraine’s decision to target the Moskva and we had no prior knowledge. We do provide intelligence to help Ukraine defend itself against the threat posed by the ships in the Black Sea and sea-based assaults."