THE SOVIET–ISRAELI WAR, 1967–1973
the sailors would load the cannon and train them onto the Israeli trenches ... we were 2–3
km from the Israeli-occupied territory and I could see them.
Khripunkov’s frigate remained at Port Said at least through October, when he
“witnessed the Israeli navy’s tragedy” in which Soviet advisers “did all but press the
button.”^89 This incident, the sinking of the Israeli destroyer Eilat, would coincide
dramatically with the formalization of the Soviet military presence in Eg ypt.