Ukrainian forces followed their attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet in occupied Crimea with a second attack in as many days in the region as Kiev tries to frustrate Russian forces ahead of the coming winter.
The video captured the aftermath of Friday’s devastating strike, showing huge plumes of black smoke rising from the Black Sea Fleet Headquarters. According to Reuters, Ukraine took credit for the attack on Saturday ahead of a second strike that Russian officials have also attributed to Ukrainian forces.
Mikhail Razvozayev, the Russian-appointed governor of Sevastopol, claimed the city had activated its air defenses on Saturday to counter an upcoming missile attack. No Ukrainian official has yet taken credit for the second attack.
Razvozayev said debris from a missile landed in nearby Sukharnaya Bay, halting passenger ship traffic for the day, but emergency services had left the scene, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. It did not reveal whether the missile attack succeeded in destroying any infrastructure or vital targets – far fewer details than were provided after Friday’s attack, which left one soldier missing but no casualties after Russian defenses claimed to have shot down five missiles. .
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The wreckage fell near the pier in Suharnaya Bay, where Russia stores a number of its military vessels and submarines, the New York Times reported.
Eyewitness photo shows the moment a missile hit the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. (PRODUCED BY REUTERS)
Earlier on Saturday, the city had advised drivers and public transport to stay away from the city center and seek shelter amid air raid alerts, but Razvozayev ended the missile warning in the early afternoon.
Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive, launched earlier this year after a winter thaw, has made slow progress and drawn criticism from some in the West.
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Despite these concerns, the US this week pledged further aid to Ukraine as a sign of total commitment to the country’s defense and efforts to maintain its sovereignty.
Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev speaks from a burning Sevastopol shipyard in Crimea on Wednesday (Associated Press)
As a result, Ukraine has made a renewed and more desperate push to try to hit Russia’s supply lines and support structure in order to blunt offensive efforts as winter sets in, so officials on both sides expect the fighting to slow. .
The first winter of the war saw a decline in general fighting and more focused efforts, particularly around the city of Bakhmut, which has changed hands between the two sides at least twice so far. This week saw attacks on the outskirts of Bahamut, which has limited strategic value but enormous symbolic value to whoever can hold it.
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The Ukrainian air force last week struck naval targets and port infrastructure, the BBC reported. Last week’s strike also damaged a Russian submarine and warship.
A missile is fired from a multiple rocket launcher mounted on a truck near Svyatohirsk, eastern Ukraine, on May 14, 2022, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images)
“With a series of carefully calibrated drone strikes in recent weeks in and around Crimea and deeper into Russia, Ukraine has eroded Putin’s red lines that Russia is off limits to Kiev strikes,” said Rebekah Koffler , president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting. and former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, told Fox News Digital.
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“Zelensky wants to continue, probing Putin’s real red lines,” he explained. “We are at a very critical moment now in this conflict.”
