{"id":1473668,"date":"2024-06-26T23:20:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T03:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1473668"},"modified":"2024-06-26T23:20:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T03:20:00","slug":"austin-russias-new-defense-chief-speak-for-1st-time-after-crimea-beach-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/austin-russias-new-defense-chief-speak-for-1st-time-after-crimea-beach-attack\/1473668\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin & Russia’s New Defense Chief Speak For 1st Time After Crimea Beach Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austin & Russia’s New Defense Chief Speak For 1st Time After Crimea Beach Attack<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

In a rare moment which appears a somewhat positive development (or at least it’s not more immediate\u00a0escalation<\/em>), the US and Russian defense chiefs spoke by phone Tuesday for the first time since March 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin initiated the call, and the timing is important given it comes following Sunday’s deadly Ukraine missile attack on a crowded Sevastopol beach which killed five people and injured 124 more, including children.<\/p>\n

Moscow has blamed Washington for providing the long-range\u00a0MGM-140 ATACMS systems used in the attack<\/strong>, and has even said Kiev likely had satellite and targeting help from the Pentagon.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The Guardian<\/em> noted that “The two sides gave widely divergent accounts of the discussion \u2013 the first between US defense secretary Lloyd Austin and Russia\u2019s defense minister Andrei Belousov.”<\/p>\n

Russian defense chief Belousov warned Austin against continued arms supplies to Kiev<\/strong>, citing the dangers of serious escalation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for the US version of the call, the Pentagon readout<\/a> was scant, only saying that Austin “emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication <\/strong>amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.”<\/p>\n

The Kremlin is still pointing to Washington actions as being behind an ongoing escalation<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s defense ministry said Washington and Kyiv bore “responsibility for a deliberate missile strike on peaceful residents<\/strong>,” which it said used\u00a0US-supplied ATACMS missiles.<\/em><\/p>\n

Russia further called it a “terrorist act” and according to more details<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Videos posted on social media showed people running from the beach as explosions went off and people in swimming outfits carrying a stretcher.\u00a0AFP\u00a0could not verify their authenticity.<\/em><\/p>\n

A local news channel on Telegram,\u00a0ChP Sevastopol, cited witnesses as saying that an elderly woman was killed as she swam in the sea<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

But despite this, elsewhere there were other rare positives. On Tuesday Russia and Ukraine conducted a prisoner swap involving 90 total POWs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Sunday’s strike involved cluster munitions dropping on men, women, and children at a Sevastopol beach…<\/em><\/p>\n

The moment when Cluster munitions from the ATACMS supplied by the United States is injuring and killing people on the beach in Sevastopol, Crimea couple a days ago. pic.twitter.com\/WDQQxLeHTs<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 I\u2019m No Angel (@HappyCamper2626) June 25, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

This was the second biggest swap since May 31st, when the two sides returned 75 captives each. That exchange had come after a long lull in exchanges, and there is likely more to come this summer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nWed, 06\/26\/2024 – 19:20<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/austin-russias-new-defense-chief-speak-1st-time-after-crimea-beach-attack<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Austin & Russia’s New Defense Chief Speak For 1st Time After Crimea Beach Attack In a rare moment which appears a somewhat positive development (or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1473669,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1473668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1473668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1473669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1473668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1473668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1473668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}