Russia blames US for deadly missile attack on Crimea beach

The Kremlin says the US has blood on its hands after a Ukrainian missile exploded above a beach in Russian-annexed Crimea, killing four people.

A blood stain and damaged cars parked near the beach. Picture: X

The Kremlin says the United States has blood on its hands after a Ukrainian missile exploded above a beach in Russian-annexed Crimea, killing four people, including two children, and wounding more than 100.

Russian officials said people sunbathing on the beach in Sevastopol were hit by shrapnel.

Russia’s defence ministry said Washington and Kyiv bore “responsibility for a deliberate missile strike on peaceful residents”, which it said involved US-supplied ATACMS missiles.

The Black Sea port city and naval base on the Crimean peninsula was annexed by Russia in 2014 but is still internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.

Sevastopol regularly comes under fire from Ukraine but Sunday’s attack was unusually deadly. Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said the attack hit Uchkuyevka, an area with sandy beaches and hotels.

Videos posted on social media showed people running from the beach as explosions erupted. A local news channel quoted witnesses as saying an elderly woman was killed as she swam in the sea.

Neither the US nor Ukraine commented on the strike.

The governor said Ukraine had launched five missiles that Russian air-defences intercepted over the sea but fragments fell onto the shore, wounding people.

But the Russian defence ministry said Ukraine had committed a “terrorist attack on the civilian ­infrastructure of Sevastopol with US-supplied ATACMS tactical missiles loaded with cluster ­warheads”.

The ministry said four missiles were downed but a fifth changed trajectory after being intercepted, “with its warhead exploding in the air over the city”.

It added that “all flight missions for US ATACMS are entered by US specialists based on the US’s own satellite reconnaissance data. “Such actions will not be left without a response,” the ministry said.

The attack came a day after a Russian guided bomb strike on the city of Kharkiv hit an apartment building, killing two people. On Sunday, Russian strikes hit a house and a children’s centre in Kharkiv, killing one person and injuring 10, regional governor Oleg Synegubov said.

AFP