Less than 24 hours after The New York Times issued a provocative report citing unnamed US officials who are celebrating that American intelligence-sharing with Ukraine's military has helped take out multiple Russian generals since the Feb.24 invasion, NBC News is out with yet another bombshell claim sourced to the deep state US intel officials.
Amid what seems escalation after escalation, and new revelations of Washington's deepening and perhaps increasingly direct role in fighting Russia in Ukraine, NBC brings us this doozy... "Intelligence shared by the U.S. helped Ukraine sink the Russian cruiser Moskva, U.S. officials told NBC News, confirming an American role in perhaps the most embarrassing blow to Vladimir Putin’s troubled invasion of Ukraine."
As a reminder of just how hugely significant the claim is - and just how dangerous in terms of representing a massive escalation - the Moskva was considered the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, had 510 crewmen on board before Neptune anti-cruise ship missiles scored a direct hit in mid-April, and was the most embarrassing single blow to President Putin's war effort of the whole conflict thus far.'
"The attack happened after Ukrainian forces asked the Americans about a ship sailing in the Black Sea south of Odesa, U.S. officials told NBC News," the report continues. "The U.S. identified it as the Moskva, officials said, and helped confirm its location, after which the Ukrainians targeted the ship." This comes after the NY Times revealed in a report the night prior that much of the intel-sharing is focused on Russian troop and equipment movements.
It goes without saying that this fresh NBC report will be viewed by Moscow as an outrageous acknowledged escalation by Washington, though so far Russian leadership's public response has been rather muted...
The Kremlin had previously warned it would hold external countries supplying arms and other forms of assistance "responsible" - and that "decision-making" centers including Kiev would come under increased attack. Meanwhile, cruise missile strikes even as far west as Lviv do appear to be expanding this week.
US Intelligence Has Helped Kill Multiple Russian Generals In Ukraine
Last month Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin bluntly admitted of US policy aims in Ukraine: "we want to see Russia weakened to the degree it cannot do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine." He also sought to stress before the American public during an interview that the US is not fighting a "proxy war".
However, unnamed senior American officials in a bombshell New York Times report have said that intelligence sharing with the Ukrainians have helped take out some of the estimated 12 Russian generals that have died on the front lines since the Feb.24 invasion, an astonishingly high number given the rarity in any war of deaths from among highest officer ranks (and considering the war has been going for a little over two months at this point).
The intelligence sharing, which was previously vaguely acknowledged as happening by President Biden, is part of a broadly expansive US role in the conflict with the way being paved by unprecedented in size military aid packages and weapons shipments.
According to the limited details of intelligence provided to the Ukrainians, The New York Times reports that "The United States has focused on providing the location and other details about the Russian military’s mobile headquarters, which relocate frequently." Additionally, "Ukrainian officials have combined that geographic information with their own intelligence — including intercepted communications that alert the Ukrainian military to the presence of senior Russian officers — to conduct artillery strikes and other attacks that have killed Russian officers."
While US intelligence officials are seeking to deny that the purpose is an "intent to kill Russian generals" - as a National Security Council spokesperson told the Times as the story came out - the report implicitly acknowledges this marks a major escalation in terms of Washington's role:
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