ISW: Civilian casualties on Crimea beach caused by work of Russian air defense
That's according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukrinform reports.
"Kremlin officials absurdly attempted to link the June 23 Ukrainian strikes on legitimate military targets in occupied Sevastopol, Crimea and the likely Islamic State (IS) affiliate Wilayat Kavkaz terrorist attack in the Republic of Dagestan. The Kremlin information operation linking these two events is nonsensical if only because the civilian casualties in Crimea resulted from Russia's interception of an incoming ATACMS missile rather than a deliberate Ukrainian targeting decision," analysts said.
The ISW recalled that the Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged that a Russian air defense interceptor caused the Ukrainian missile to deviate from its flight path and detonate in Sevastopol. An unspecified U.S. official also told Reuters in a June 24 article that Russian forces were able to intercept the ATACMS missile targeting a Russian missile launcher causing the ATACMS missile to explode and rain down shrapnel on the Sevastopol beach. In addition, military analysts added that Russian officials have also offered no evidence for their claims of Ukrainian or American involvement in the Dagestan terrorist attack.
ISW previously reported that the Islamic State (IS) Northern Caucasus branch, Wilayat Kavkaz, likely conducted a complex and coordinated attack against churches, synagogues, and law enforcement structures in the Republic of Dagestan on June 23.
On June 23, explosions rang out in temporarily occupied Crimea. In Sevastopol, according to preliminary information from the occupiers, five people were killed and more than 120 injured as a result of rocket fire and the work of air defenses. Later, after the explosions, the Russian occupiers introduced a state of emergency in temporarily occupied Sevastopol.
