Ukraine has marked a significant victory following a series of powerful explosions at the Saky air base in annexed Crimea. On Friday, Ukrainian forces launched four U.S.-supplied ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) strikes against targets in Crimea, according to reports from the Astra Telegram channel, which is managed by independent Russian journalists. The strikes resulted in injuries to two Russian servicemen.
The Ukrainian attacks hit an ammunition depot at the air base located in the western town of Novofedorivka, and a radar station at a Russian air defense site near the village of Shelkovichnoye in the Saky district.
In a statement on social media, Ukraineβs General Staff claimed responsibility for the operation, emphasizing that the strikes were part of a broader strategy to undermine Russian military infrastructure. “Tonight, units of the missile forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in cooperation with other components of the Defense Forces, as part of a unified plan, struck the Saky airfield in the temporarily occupied Crimea,” the statement read.
The General Staff explained that the Saky airfield is a key operational base for Russia, used for controlling airspace over the Black Sea and launching air strikes on Ukrainian territory. They noted that despite being protected by what they described as “modern” Russian air defense systems, the facility was unable to withstand the Ukrainian attack.
The statement further highlighted that this incident underscores the failures of Russian air defense systems in protecting critical military assets. “The joint combat work of all components of the Defense Forces on important targets of the Russian Armed Forces will continue,” the General Staff added.
As of now, Russia has not publicly commented on the attack. Newsweek was unable to independently verify the use of ATACMS and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry and Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry for comments.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, attacks on Crimea have increased as Kyiv seeks to reclaim the Black Sea peninsula, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014. Recent concerns about Russia’s ability to defend its assets have been voiced by pro-war military bloggers. In June, Boris Rozhin, a Crimea-based blogger, called for an urgent overhaul of Russia’s air defense systems following a reported Ukrainian strike on the Belgorod region that damaged parts of a Russian S-300/400 air defense system.
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