Crimea plays a key role in the Ukraine war. Ukrainian attacks have now had an effect: Russia has partially withdrawn its Black Sea fleet, and now Putin’s air bases are in danger.
Kiev/Moscow – In the Ukraine war, the Crimean peninsula has a special strategic, historical and symbolic significance. For Russia, the Crimea Since its illegal annexation in 2014, it has been a logistical key in the Ukraine war. The port of Sevastopol serves Vladimir Putin not only as a base for the Russian Black Sea Fleet, but also as an important base for the Russian air force.
Two of the five Russian Crimean air bases are said to be currently without aircraft
There are a total of five air bases in Crimea: Belbek, Dzhankoi, Hvardiyske, Kacha and Saky. Two of them are currently without aircraft, according to sources in the Ukrainian military. Ukrainian naval spokesman Pletenchuk suggested that the Russian occupiers of Crimea may have relocated some of their aircraft stationed there to Russia, as the EuroMaidan Press reported.
How Obozrevatel reported, Pletenchuk recently expressed this suspicion on Ukrainian television and justified it with Russia’s logistical problems in supplying the aircraft with fuel and other necessary resources for use in the war against Ukraine. Pletenchuk did not provide any information on the specific types of aircraft or their number, nor on their exact location.
Ukrainian attacks on Russian air bases in Crimea have an effect
This development comes against the backdrop of several Ukrainian drone and missile attacks targeting the infrastructure of the Russian Aerospace Forces in occupied Crimea. Those military strikes took place in parallel with missile and drone attacks on Russian naval facilities in Crimea, as a result of which Putin decided to move a large part of the Russian Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk on Russia’s eastern Black Sea coast.
A momentous Ukrainian attack on Russian Crimean air bases took place on the night of July 26. Ukrainian defense forces attacked the Saky military airfield in Novofedorivka with a total of eight ATACMS missiles, destroying two Russian fighter planes and a Nebo radar system.
On the night of Saturday (3 August 2024), the Ukrainian armed forces again carried out a drone attack on the Russian-occupied Crimea. As The Kyiv Independent based on information from the Telegram channel Crimean Wind reported that at the time of the attack, fires broke out near Russian air defense positions in Balaklava, which is on the outskirts of Sevastopol. The Telegram channel also shared images of burning debris in Sevastopol. The channel also reported that smoke was rising from the 13th Black Sea Fleet Ship Repair Plant in Kilen Bay.
Recent Ukrainian attacks are effective not only in Crimea, but also in other oblasts
Local residents reported hearing several explosions in Sevastopol, Simferopol and Yevpatoria in occupied Crimea, the Crimean Wind Telegram channel said. Russia-appointed deputy head of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev claimed that fragments of drones and US-made missiles were found in the city after they were hit by air defenses. Razvozhayev said that houses, high-rise buildings, power lines, roads and other civilian property were damaged by falling debris. Russia does not usually comment on possible hits on military facilities.
The Ukrainian armed forces also carried out another drone attack on the Russian military airfield Morozovsk in the Rostov region on Saturday night, as the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed on Facebook. The Ukrainian military confirmed attacks on an ammunition depot where, among other things, guided aerial bombs were stored. The depot is located in Morozovsk, around 225 kilometers west of the city of Volgograd and around 250 kilometers northeast of the city of Rostov-on-Don, not far from the border with Ukraine.
In addition, several oil and fuel depots in the Belgorod, Kursk and Rostov regions were attacked during the military strikes on Saturday night. Two oil tanks caught fire, reported Ukrainian Pravda. It is still unclear whether air defense systems and aircraft were damaged or destroyed. The operation was carried out in cooperation with the Security Service (SBU), the Military Intelligence Service (HUR) and the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Videos posted on the Russian Telegram channel “Mash“, such fires were said to have been seen in the Rostov Oblast. (fh)
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