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The US provided intelligence that helped Ukraine sink the Moskva, Russia's flagship Black Sea missile cruiser, several US media report.

Unnamed officials said Ukraine had asked the US about a ship sailing to the south of Odesa.

The US said it was the Moskva and helped confirm its location. Ukraine then struck it with two missiles.

The Pentagon has not commented on the story directly. But a spokesman said the US gave intelligence to help Ukraine defend itself.

The story follows earlier US media reports this week that intelligence provided by Washington has been used to target high-ranking Russian commanders in the field in Ukraine.

In his response Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said "Our military is well aware that the United States, Great Britain, Nato as a whole are continually passing intelligence to the Ukrainian armed forces." But he doubted the intelligence provided to Ukraine would hinder Russia from achieving its stated objectives: the "liberation" of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east of Ukraine.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby denied the reports saying:

"We do not provide intelligence on the location of senior military leaders on the battlefield or participate in the targeting decisions of the Ukrainian military."

Newsday have been speaking to Joel Rubin, who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for legislative affairs in the Obama administration.

鈥淚t looks to me that the Administration is doing what it can to ensure that Ukraine is in a position to take the strikes it believes it needs to take. And if Russian generals are on the battlefield then that is where they are. But I鈥檓 not getting the sense that the United States is directly guiding Ukraine to specifically attack Russian generals.鈥�

Photo shows: Ukrainian soldiers stand on a tank near Sloviansk, eastern Ukraine, on April 26, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Credit: Getty Images.

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