Ukrainian Attacks In Crimea Having Profound Impact On Russia – The war in Ukraine has reached the point of being a stalemate with very little movement on either side in terms of taking or retaking territory. But recent events have already changed Russia’s actions and, as Western military officials told media members, are having a profound psychological impact.
Attacks in Crimea by Ukrainian forces have expanded the fighting zone deep into Russian-occupied Crimea, where they have previously operated with impunity. Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 and has been used to stage the invasion of southern Ukraine in its attempts to seize all of Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea.
Ukraine’s head of the national security council, Oleksiy Danilov, said on Friday that Kyiv would continue to target sites in Crimea as part of a “step-by-step demilitarization of the peninsula with its subsequent de-occupation.”
Ukraine Latest: Black Sea Fleet Reduced to Coastal Defense:
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has suffered setbacks throughout the invasion campaign.
In April, the flagship of the fleet, the cruiser Moskva, was sunk after being hit by anti-ship missiles causing the ammunition to explode. The Russians attempted to tow the cruiser to Sevastopol, but she rolled over and sank during the journey.
Later in June, the Russians were forced to withdraw from the small but strategic outpost of Snake Island, off the southern coast of Ukraine. Russian troops seized the island during the early hours of the war, where a Ukrainian radio operator, after receiving the Moskva’s demand for surrender, responded with, “Russian warship, Go F**k Yourself! The Russian defense ministry framed the withdrawal of the island as a “Goodwill gesture.”
Last month, Russia’s Navy Day parade in Crimea was canceled after a small, homemade drone landed in Russia’s Black Sea headquarters courtyard. Damage was slight, but it had a significant impact. Then came the attack on the Russian airbase at Saki that destroyed eight aircraft and damaged others. It effectively took out half of Russia’s Black Sea aviation assets.
On Monday, Ukrainian partisans acting with Special Forces personnel blew up a large ammunition depot near the coast. On Friday night, explosions were heard near another Russian airbase, and the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters was hit with another explosion.
“Moskva” (“Moscow”) (ex-“Slava”, which means “Glory”) is the lead ship of the Project 1164 Atlant class of guided missile cruisers in the Russian Navy. This warship was used in the 2008 Russia-Georgia War. The Black Sea. Sevastopol bay. This photo was taken from a boat.
Thousands of Russian Citizens on the Black Sea Flee After Attack
The attack on the ammunition depot this week was seen by thousands of Russian citizens on the Black Sea coast, a favorite vacation spot. But the attack profoundly affected those vacationers, as satellite imagery showed a long queue of vehicles leaving Crimea for Russia just after the attack.
For a country that has carefully orchestrated what news is available to Russian citizens and any negative reporting on the invasion can result in long jail terms, this development is important.
Russia thought that this area of the Black Sea was immune from any Ukrainian attacks. The attack has struck home both with the citizens fleeing and the government in Moscow. There seemed to be genuine panic among the civilians, and any government spin can’t hide the fact or stop those fleeing from relaying what happened.
Putin’s Ukraine Problems: Black Sea Fleet Commander Fired
Russia’s Black Sea fleet commander, Igor Osipov, has been replaced after several setbacks by his command were suffered, and its power projection was severely impacted.
Osipov was replaced by Vice Admiral Viktor Sokolov, who vowed that the defensive posture would soon be replaced with further operations that would see control of the entire Black Sea. Russian government-controlled news TASS quoted him as saying that the fleet has been “successfully completing all the tasks set for it” during the “special military operation.”
Service members of pro-Russian troops fire from a tank during fighting in Ukraine-Russia conflict near the Azovstal steel plant in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine May 5, 2022. Picture taken May 5, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
Sokolov told a group of young officers that he’d been appointed as the acting commander of the Black Sea Fleet, and the fleet will receive 12 new vessels and additional aviation and land-based vehicles later this year. Sokolov had previously been the head of the Admiral Kuznetsov Naval Academy, a post he held since 2020.
Steve Balestrieri is a 1945 National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer, mainly in the 7th SFG. In addition to writing for 19fortyfive.com and other military news organizations, he has covered the NFL for PatsFans.com for over 11 years. His work was regularly featured in the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle and Grafton News newspapers in Massachusetts.
