U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken by phone with his Russian counterpart, Andrei Belousov, amid steadily mounting tension between Washington and Moscow.
Held on June 25 at Mr. Austin’s request, the telephone call came two days after a Ukrainian missile attack on Crimea left four Russian civilians dead.
Moscow has laid responsibility for the deadly incident on the United States, which supplied Kyiv with the long-range missiles reportedly used in the attack.
Speaking to his Russian counterpart, Mr. Austin “emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.
Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement that the two “exchanged views on the situation around Ukraine.”
The ministry also said that Mr. Belousov underlined the “danger of further escalation due to continued U.S. weapons supplies to Ukraine’s armed forces,” and that the pair had discussed several “other issues,” without elaborating.
The last time Mr. Austin spoke with his Russian counterpart—then Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu—was March 2023.
Last month, Mr. Belousov replaced Mr. Shoigu, who had served as Russia’s defense chief since 2012.
Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine, now in its third year, has prompted a diplomatic crisis between Moscow and Washington unseen since the days of the Cold War.
Last week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said formal contacts between the two countries stood at an “absolute minimum.”
Russia: ‘No Doubt’ of US Responsibility
On June 23, Ukraine reportedly fired a barrage of long-range ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) missiles—bearing cluster munitions—at targets in Crimea.Built and supplied by the United States, ATACMS missiles boast a range of about 185 miles.
According to Russia’s defense ministry, four missiles were downed by air defenses, while a fifth exploded over Crimea’s port city of Sevastopol.
Four civilians, including two children, were killed by falling missile debris on a Sevastopol beach, while 150 others were injured, local authorities said.
In a statement released shortly afterward, Russia’s foreign ministry said it had “no doubt” that the United States was responsible for the missile attack. The ministry said that “American specialists” had even selected the targets, “based on U.S. satellite reconnaissance data.”
It further asserted that a U.S. Global Hawk reconnaissance drone had been operating on standby “in the skies near Crimea” at the time of the attack.
Asked to comment on the Russian claims, a U.S. State Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the Sevastopol beach where the casualties occurred was “not the intended target.”
“We believe a Russian air-defense missile intercepted a Ukrainian missile that was heading toward a military target in Crimea, and the shrapnel from the intercept is what fell on the beach, injuring civilians,” the spokesperson said.
“Those beachgoers were reportedly harmed by the result of the intercept,” the spokesperson added.
As for the alleged involvement of “American specialists” in executing the missile attack, the spokesperson stated: “Ukraine chooses its own military targets and makes its own military decisions about what to strike.”
On June 24, Moscow summoned the U.S. ambassador to express its displeasure and convey its belief that the United States had become a “de facto party to the conflict.”
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s account of the meeting, the ambassador was informed that “such actions by Washington ... will not go unanswered.”
Asked by reporters about the meeting, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States “provides weapons to Ukraine so it can defend its sovereign territory against armed aggression.”
“That includes Crimea,” he added, “which, of course, is part of Ukraine.”
Russia effectively annexed Crimea in 2014 after holding a controversial region-wide referendum. Since then, Moscow has regarded the strategic Black Sea region as Russian Federation territory.
Ukraine, like its Western allies, rejects the annexation by Russia and has vowed to recover all of Crimea by force of arms.
Kyiv has thus far refrained from commenting on the recent missile strike on Crimea, while denying that its military targets civilians.
In a June 24 social media post, Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, stated: “Crimea is Ukraine.”
“Russia must leave the peninsula,” Mr. Yermak said. “Their army and military assets there must cease to exist.”
According to Zelenskyy aide Mykhailo Podolyak, Crimea—which hosts Russia’s Black Sea Fleet—constitutes a legitimate military target.
“There are no ‘beaches’ or ‘tourist areas’ … in Crimea,” he said on June 24, describing the peninsula as a “foreign territory occupied by Russia.”
Crimea, he said in a social-media post, is a “large military camp … with hundreds of direct military targets.”
