In the latest show of force against Russian forces in occupied Crimea, the Ukrainian General Staff of the Armed Forces on June 10 claimed to have successfully struck three Russian anti-aircraft missile systems.
The Ukrainian military reported that one S-400 antiaircraft missile division in the Dzhankoya area and two S-300 antiaircraft missile divisions near Chornomorskiy and Yevpatoria were destroyed and an “immediate shutdown of S-300 and S-400 complex radars was recorded.”
The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on these reports, but a Planet Labs satellite image viewed by RFE/RL shows apparent evidence of a large fire near a railroad in the city of Dzhankoya.
Russian Telegram channels say that Russian air defenses shot down at least four ballistic missiles over Crimea. The claim has yet to be verified, but the General Staff said none of its missiles was intercepted.
Satellite images provided by Planet.com also confirm a strike on a resort in the Belgorod region, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service said on June 10.
There had been unconfirmed photos published on social media indicating the presence of Russian military at the site, which has outdoor facilities such as tennis courts, playgrounds, areas for grilling and camping, as well as a hotel with at least 100 rooms.
Sky News on June 9 quoted a Ukrainian intelligence source referring to an attack on a command post in the Belgorod region. The report said the strike was carried out by Ukrainian aircraft.
The resort is 10 kilometers from Russia’s border with Ukraine and near the town with Shebekino. Russian news media have not reported on the strike but some buses traveling from the region to Belgorod are being rerouted around Shebekino.
A separate report on June 10 quoted Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy, as saying that a fire is burning on the Russian ship Admiral Levchenko in the Barents Sea. He described the Admiral Levchenko as a “large anti-submarine ship” with several hundred crew on board.
He added that sanctions imposed by Ukraine mean that it “cannot independently service engines produced in Mykolayiv.”
The reported strikes in Crimea and Belgorod come ahead of a June 15-16 peace summit on Ukraine, which Swiss President Viola Amherd said will bring together nearly 90 countries and organizations. Participants in the peace summit are expected to discuss the front lines of the war with Russia amid conflicting claims of success.
© 2024, GDC. © GDC and www.globaldefensecorp.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.globaldefensecorp.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.