2023-09-23 05:33:34
Russia yesterday accused Ukraine of launching a bombing that caused a fire and left one person missing at the headquarters of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, docked on the Crimean peninsula, a territory annexed by Moscow that is key to the conflict, according to Officials from both sides of the war reported and videos that circulated on the Telegram social network.
This Ukrainian peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, and the city of Sevastopol, where the Russian fleet has been located since the 19th century, are central to the Russian operation in Ukraine, since they allow the troops deployed in the south of the country to be supplied and are a base to launch missile bombardments from the sea.
A few hours after the attack, the Ukrainian army claimed success in a bombing raid against the headquarters of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.
Since June, Ukrainian forces have been carrying out a counteroffensive to confront the Russian invasion, which began in February 2022, which is advancing slowly in the east and south of the country.
The Russian-appointed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvokhaiev, reported that the headquarters suffered “a missile attack” and said this caused a fire.
The Russian Defense Ministry first announced that a soldier died in the bombing, but later specified that the uniformed man was reported “missing” and that the facilities were “damaged.”
Fearing more attacks, authorities asked people to stay under cover and then raised the alert in the early afternoon. Five missiles were shot down over Crimea, the Russian military reported.
Disrupt logistics. Russian authorities announced a few hours after the bombing that Crimea suffered an unprecedented cyberattack against its internet providers and that this caused service outages.
“We are fixing the internet outages on the peninsula,” Oleg Kriuchkov, an advisor to the authority appointed by Moscow in this territory, reported on Telegram, without specifying whether this attack is related to the bombings.
Ukraine has increasingly attacked naval facilities in Crimea in recent weeks, with drones and missiles, the Institute for the Study of War said. Military experts say it is essential for Ukraine to maintain its attacks on targets in Crimea to degrade Russian morale and weaken its military by disrupting the Russian supply chain and end Russian military supremacy in the Black Sea.
Previous attacks in Crimea killed several civilians, but Russian authorities have not yet reported the death of any military personnel. Six people were injured following the July 20, 2022, attack on the fleet headquarters, but it was unclear whether they were civilians or military personnel.
Sevastopol’s Russian governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said no one was injured outside the burning headquarters building on Friday. The Ukrainian military claimed responsibility for the attack.
“We promised ‘there would be more,’” Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleschuk, the air force commander, said in a social media message thanking the pilots and showing video of air sirens blazing and smoke billowing from the plane. building.
The Russian Defense Ministry said five missiles were shot down by Russian air defense systems in response to the attack on Sevastopol. It was not immediately clear whether the headquarters was hit in a direct attack or by the remains of an intercepted missile.
Sevastopol residents reported hearing explosions and seeing smoke, Russian media reported, with images showing gray plumes over the seafront.
Yesterday’s attack is one of several recently launched by Ukraine in the Crimea area. The Institute for the Study of War said satellite images this week showed that Ukrainian strikes had significantly damaged a communications command center in Verkhnosadove, outside Sevastopol.
Russian authorities based in Sevastopol accused Ukraine on September 13 of carrying out the largest attack in Crimea in weeks, one against a strategic shipyard that damaged two ships under repair and caused a fire at the facility.
Two days earlier, Ukraine said it had recaptured strategic oil and gas drilling platforms in the Black Sea that Russia seized in 2015. Russia had used the platforms for electronic warfare equipment and to launch helicopters, and Ukraine said it would seize its control would help him recover Crimea.
This. In eastern Ukraine, Russian occupation authorities reported this Friday that kyiv forces launched several coordinated attacks. “In the last 24 hours, the enemy launched a series of actions” in the direction of Limán, Denis Pushilin, appointed by Russia in command of the Donetsk region, reported on social networks.
Pushilin indicated that the situation in Bakhmut is “hot” and that this area is under “chaotic bombing.” This town in the hands of the Russians is a key point of the offensive and is devastated after the fierce fighting. The Ukrainian army in recent days has claimed progress, saying it took Andriivka and Klishchiivka and claiming to have broken a Russian defense line near Bakhmut.
In the rest of Ukraine, a Russian bombing this Friday caused one death and 15 injuries in the town of Kremenchuk, in the center of the country.
“The enemy fired rockets at Kremenchuk. One rocket was shot down by air defense forces. Unfortunately, civil infrastructures were hit,” Dmytro Lunin, governor of the Poltava region, said on Telegram.
On the diplomatic level, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continued his tour of North America with a visit to Canada.
After meeting with the Ukrainian president, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new aid package for Ukraine, valued at 650 million Canadian dollars (about $482 million).
These support measures will include the delivery of 50 armored vehicles and training Ukrainian pilots to fly American-made F-16 fighters.
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