Meanwhile, the US is today expected to approve an additional £118 million ($150 million) in critically needed munitions to Ukraine, according to two unnamed US officials.

The Fighterbomber Telegram channel cryptically suggested the US kit had been downed over the key strategic waterway, without providing any specific details.

It posted: “Congratulations to everyone involved. There is now increased turbulence in the Black Sea.

“Let’s see whether it’s on an ongoing basis or whether it was a one-time event.”

Posting on X, Mathias Gjesdal Hammer, a journalist specialising in defence matters who works for the Semafor website, said a US defence official had downplayed the claim, saying: “We have not seen any evidence of this to be factual.”

Russia yesterday summoned the American ambassador to protest what it says was the use of US-made advanced missiles in a Ukrainian attack on Crimea on Sunday which reportedly killed four people and wounded more than 150.

Crimea, which Russian seized from Ukraine in 2014 in a move most of the world rejected as unlawful, has long been regarded as a fair target for Ukraine by its Western allies.

However, the Pentagon said last week that Ukraine’s military is also now allowed to use longer-range missiles provided by the US to strike targets inside Russia if it is acting in self-defence. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

Ukraine attacks Crimea beach, says Russia

Since the outset of the war, the US had maintained a policy of not permitting Ukraine to use the weapons it provided to hit targets on Russian soil for fear of further escalating the conflict.

The continued flow of US munitions, which will be drawn from existing stockpiles, is intended to help Ukrainian forces repel intensified Russian attacks.

The upcoming shipment is expected to include munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS. That system is capable of firing the longer-range missiles from the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, which Russia has said would prompt retaliation and risk escalating the conflict.

One of the US officials said they could not verify whether this aid package included ATACMS munitions, but said the aid did not include cluster munitions.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that had not yet been made public.

The package also includes anti-armour weapons, small arms and grenades and the highly sought-after 155 mm and 105 mm artillery rounds, among other support.

Speaking yesterday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: The involvement of the United States, the direct involvement, as a result of which Russian civilians are killed, cannot be without consequences