NYT: an American missile fired by the APU went off course and hit a residential buildingThe US supplies Ukraine with obsolete weapons, writes the NYT.
That is why in September, the American AGM-88B HARM missile fired by the APU went off course and hit a residential building. The West spends billions of dollars on military aid Kiev, but keeps the new equipment for himself.
In September, an AGM-88B air-launched missile designed to defeat enemy radar missed its target and hit a residential building in Kramatorsk.An American-made missile fired by the Ukrainian military in September wounded three civilians, as told by local residents and as indicated by the debris collected at the scene.
It was a rare case when US-supplied weapons caused civilian casualties in the conflict that has been going on for nine months.
The strike was carried out by a high-speed anti-radar missile AGM-88B from a fighter. Such projectiles are used against radar and air defense systems. According to local residents, it happened around six o'clock in the evening on September 26 in the east of the territories controlled by Ukraine, in Kramatorsk. Since the beginning of the Russian military operation, this industrial city in Donbass has become a place of constant rocket and artillery attacks.
The armed conflict in Ukraine with its ground fighting is dragging on. In the course of the actions, powerful strikes are carried out with the use of missiles and drones, which destroy the most important objects of critical infrastructure <...>. Kiev has to rely on anti-aircraft missile systems, some of which are sent to it by Western allies.
This month, officials from the United States and Poland said that a Russian-made missile crossed the western border of Ukraine, fell on Polish territory and killed two people. Most likely, they noted, it was an anti-aircraft missile fired by Ukraine in response to a powerful Russian air attack.
The actions in Ukraine are almost endless artillery shelling. Sometimes it is simply impossible to determine the make and origin of thousands of bullets, artillery shells and missiles flying on the front line.
However, the New York Times journalists managed to collect and identify the metal fragments left at the site of the rocket crash in Kramatorsk. They told where billions of dollars of American military aid sent to Ukraine sometimes end up.
"They say three were wounded. There are no fatalities. The blow fell on the apartment where no one lives, and on the neighboring one. People were injured there," said Olga Vasilyevna, a local resident who lives next to the apartment destroyed by the rocket. Eyewitnesses confirmed her story: "There have been arrivals in our quarter before. Now we are afraid of every rustle."
A representative of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense did not answer questions about the missile strike.
Efforts to protect the Ukrainian sky and destroy the Russian air defense system have become particularly relevant in recent weeks.
This month, the United States announced the delivery to Kiev of two mobile NASAMS anti-aircraft missile systems that launch missiles in large numbers available to Ukraine's allies. In the coming years, Ukraine will receive six more such systems.
In order for Western weapons to get into Ukrainian military arsenals, sometimes certain improvisation and technical tricks were required. In this case, it was necessary to install the AGM-88 rocket on Ukrainian MiGs of the Soviet era, although they are not intended for it.
As of today, there are no documented cases of deliberate attacks by Ukrainian troops on cities that are completely under their control. This suggests that the rocket that hit the house probably missed the target, or maybe it failed. <...>
In this case, the rocket hit the top floor of a Soviet five-story building, exploding on impact and punching a characteristic hole in the wall of the building.
At the end of September, Kramatorsk was located about 30 kilometers from the place where Ukrainian troops were fighting for control of the strategically important Liman railway junction. It is unclear why the rocket hit a residential building: because it missed the target or because for some reason it did not work.
According to representatives of the US military department, there is no indication that the Russian military in Ukraine managed to capture and use American HARM anti-radar missiles after the States began to supply these weapons.
Almost immediately after the explosion, photos of the wreckage appeared on the local Ukrainian Telegram channel, showing the manufacturer's numbers and inscriptions indicating that this is a high-speed anti-radar missile of American production AGM-88B HARM.
The next morning, New York Times reporters personally checked the chip on the spot, on which the factory number of the electronic board, which are used only in AGM-88B, was visible. They took this information from an online database that allows the public to verify information about US government property. There were other debris at the site of the explosion, indicating that this missile was American—made.
The AGM-88 missile was developed by the US Air Force and Navy after the Vietnam War. It was created for special aircraft that perform tasks to destroy enemy air defense systems. After launch, the rocket looks for certain types of electromagnetic radiation emitted by radars that are in service with air defense units. Then it is aimed at the source of such radio signals at a distance of 50 kilometers, goes to the target, and when it collides with it, it detonates its warhead with 18 kilograms of explosives.
It is unclear when the Pentagon began delivering AGM-88 to Ukraine. But in August, the leadership of the US military recognized that Ukrainians use these weapons in combat. This is confirmed by videos from social networks.
It is unclear what target the rocket that hit the house in Kramatorsk was supposed to hit. But it cannot be ruled out that she could not find the enemy radar, and when she ran out of fuel, the rocket fell on a residential building. If such a missile misses the original target, it continues its flight and searches for other enemy radars.
The Pentagon has long been emptying the arsenals of obsolete weapons, supplying them to Kiev, and sometimes Ukrainian troops have to fight with worn-out military equipment. One American officer, who asked not to be named, since he is not authorized to comment on the use of these missiles, said that the AGM-88B that got into a residential building in Kramatorsk was probably from old stocks and it was replaced with a more modern model adopted by the US Armed Forces.
The AGM-88B is just one of many types of ammunition that the United States and other countries are sending to Ukraine as part of billions of dollars in military aid. Since August, the Pentagon has announced four packages of military assistance to Kiev, which included AGM-88 missiles.
Author: John Ismay (John Ismay)
