The Obama administration released photographic evidence Sunday
it says shows Russian forces fired rockets across the border into
eastern Ukraine and that Moscow-backed separatists used heavy
weaponry sourced from Russia inside Ukraine.
The evidence bolsters the administration's assertions Thursday
that the conflict has taken an ominous turn with direct Russian
military involvement. Its release comes as administration officials
say they expect European leaders to adopt stringent new economic
sanctions against Moscow, based partly on the evidence showing that
Russian support for separatists has only increased since Malaysia
Airlines Flight 17 was shot down earlier this month.
The U.S. says one of the images provided by the Director of
National Intelligence, an aerial shot taken over the weekend and
depicting magnified impact craters and blast marks, shows Russians
fired "multiple rocket launchers into Ukraine."
Two other images offer evidence that Russia fired artillery into
Ukraine last Wednesday, and a fourth depicts multiple rocket
launcher strikes within Ukraine last Monday, according to the DNI's
office.
The images from last Wednesday show Russian "self-propelled
artillery only found in Russian military units," along with the
pattern of crater impacts near the Ukrainian military unit,
indicating that the strikes originated in Russia.
The fourth image, from July 21, shows the distances between
rocket launch sites, indicated by blast marks, and the impact
craters where the rockets landed as evidence that Ukrainian
military units were the target of fire from multiple rocket
launchers, the memo said.
The Obama administration charged on Thursday that Russian forces
have fired artillery into Ukraine in an attempt to disrupt
Ukrainian military positions. The Pentagon said Friday that Moscow
would "imminently" send heavier and more sophisticated rocket
systems to the rebels, who have struggled in recent weeks to
counter advances by the Ukrainian military.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires