The Ukrainian army said on Monday that it had killed the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Víktor Sokolov, in the missile attack carried out on Friday on the headquarters of this fleet in Sevastopol, as part of the operation “Crab Trap”, orchestrated by the Special Forces , reports AFP.
The headquarters of the Russian Navy in Sevastopol, hit by Ukrainian missilesPhoto: east2west news / WillWest News / Profimedia
As a result of the airstrike, “34 officers, including the commander of the Russian Black Sea fleet, died”, and “105 other occupants were injured” and “the headquarters building is beyond repair”, announced the Ukrainian special forces, notes Agerpres.
According to Moscow, its anti-aircraft missile system in Crimea shot down five Storm Shadow missiles during the Ukrainian attack on Friday, but another such missile hit the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The Russian Ministry of Defense has claimed in its statement since then that a Russian serviceman is reported missing.
The commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mikola Olesciuk, publicly praised the pilots of the Ukrainian planes that launched the missiles in this operation.
“We promise that there will be more”, added the same commander, after lately Russian military objectives in the Crimean peninsula have been attacked almost daily by the Ukrainian army with missiles and aerial or surface drones.
Ukraine used in these attacks Franco-British Storm Shadow/Scalp missiles, launched by Sukhoi SU-24 planes, and Neptun anti-ship missiles produced in Ukraine and adapted to hit land targets.
Russia says it repels Ukraine’s airstrikes
Russia claims that it manages to shoot down most of these missiles and neutralize the drones with electronic warfare means or by hitting them, but some still reach their target.
An amphibious ship and a submarine from the Russian Black Sea Fleet were damaged in a missile attack on the Sevastopol shipyard on the night of September 13.
The following night, the Ukrainian army hit a Russian S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft system near the city of Evpatoria in Crimea with drones and missiles.
But last week a new Ukrainian daytime attack with eight Storm Shadow missiles failed miserably, with Russian anti-aircraft downing five of the missiles and the others missing their target.
Smoke screens to protect the Crimean peninsula
To protect its military installations in Crimea, the Russian military has also begun using smokescreens and advanced electronic warfare systems.
Russian territory is also increasingly the target of Ukrainian drone attacks, which Kiev uses as a tactic of asymmetric warfare.
According to a source from the Ukrainian military intelligence service quoted by the daily Ukrainska Pravda, taken over by the EFE agency, several commanders from the 14th aviation regiment of the Russian army died in the Ukrainian drone attack carried out on Sunday on an airfield in the Russian province Kursk.
The source claims that the drone killed or injured a group of pilots, airfield workers and a representative of military counterintelligence from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
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