Anger, surprise, panic: NYT reveals U.S. reaction to Ukraine sinking Moskva cruiser

That’s according to a report by NYT, seen by Ukrinform.

“The sinking was a signal triumph — a display of Ukrainian skill and Russian ineptitude. But the episode also reflected the disjointed state of the Ukrainian-American relationship in the first weeks of the war,” the report reads.

For the Americans, journalists note, there was anger, because the Ukrainians hadn’t given so much as a heads-up; surprise, that Ukraine possessed missiles capable of reaching the warship; and panic, because the Joe Biden administration hadn’t intended to enable the Ukrainians to attack such a potent symbol of Russian power.

“In mid-April 2022, about two weeks before the Wiesbaden meeting, American and Ukrainian naval officers were on a routine intelligence-sharing call when something unexpected popped up on their radar screens. According to a former senior U.S. military officer, ‘The Americans go: ‘Oh, that’s the Moskva!’ The Ukrainians go: ‘Oh my God. Thanks a lot. Bye.’”

The Ukrainians, for their part, were coming from their own place of deep-rooted skepticism, journalists recall.

The article states that, as the Ukrainians won greater autonomy in the partnership with the U.S. in conducting the war, they increasingly kept their intentions secret. They were perennially angered that the Americans couldn’t, or wouldn’t, give them all of the weapons and other equipment they wanted. The Americans, in turn, were angered by what they saw as the Ukrainians’ unreasonable demands, and by their reluctance to take politically risky steps to bolster their vastly outnumbered forces.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on April 14, 2022, the Moskva missile cruiser, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, sank. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that the ship had been hit by two Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles.

The article states that, as the Ukrainians won greater autonomy in the partnership with the U.S. in conducting the war, they increasingly kept their intentions secret. They were perennially angered that the Americans couldn’t, or wouldn’t, give them all of the weapons and other equipment they wanted. The Americans, in turn, were angered by what they saw as the Ukrainians’ unreasonable demands, and by their reluctance to take politically risky steps to bolster their vastly outnumbered forces.