Crimea, Once a Bastion of Russian Power, Now Reveals Its Weakness; An “army of drones”: Ukraine Receives 100 Large “birds”, and soon there will be 200; Armed Forces of Ukraine Hit Base of invaders in Melitopol, and Russians return fire on residential buildings; Ukraine denies killing Putin ally’s daughter, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

By admin On Aug 22, 2022

Crimea, Once a Bastion of Russian Power, Now Reveals Its Weakness

Ukraine has used drones, sabotage teams to hit targets in the strategic peninsula, weakening Russia’s hold on the south of the country

For generations, Crimea has anchored Russia’s military power in the Black Sea. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed that it would remain Russian forever after he annexed it in 2014. But a spate of explosions and drone incursions in recent days also shows the extent of its vulnerability on the peninsula, and how it is now part of Ukraine’s own war goals.

The strikes deep inside the Russian-occupied territory, including on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, have disrupted Moscow’s plans to drive further into southern Ukraine, military analysts and officials said, potentially forcing a rethink of its broader strategy.

Since the start of the invasion, Crimea and the Black Sea Fleet have served as an important hub for supplying forces, equipment and firepower to support Russia’s occupation of southern Ukraine, where towns and cities quickly fell to Russian forces in the first days with barely a shot fired. From there, Russia has launched volleys of cruise missiles into Ukrainian towns, cities and military installations. Crimea was also seen as a crucial element in Moscow’s plans to push further west to Odessa and create a landbridge to Moldova.

But a Ukrainian drone that found its way to the heavily fortified headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol on Saturday underscores Russia’s weakness on the strategically crucial territory. Previous explosions at the Saki air base in Crimea earlier this month put more than half of the Black Sea Fleet’s naval aviation combat jets out of use, according to a Western official. It isn’t clear what caused that explosion.

“It’s a game changer if Saki and Sevastopol can be hit,” said John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Madison Policy Forum. “These strikes are attriting logistics, command and control and ultimately the capabilities of the Black Sea Fleet itself.”

The Western official said that since the recent explosions, Russia’s Black Sea fleet is struggling to function as anything more than a coastal defense flotilla that occasionally conducts missile strikes. The hits have also all but upended any designs Russia had to launch an amphibious assault on Odessa, he said. —>READ MORE HERE

An “army of drones”: Ukraine receives 100 large “birds”, and soon there will be 200:

Ukraine has received about 100 large long-distance drones as part of the Army of Drones project, and expects to receive 100 more in the coming months.

Source: Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister of Digital Transformation, in an interview with Ukrinform

Quote from Fedorov: “The front line is now almost 2,500 km long. There is also the depth of the front, which we have conditionally divided into four levels. The first line is up to 3 km, the second, third and fourth are 60, 70 and 120 km respectively.

So, for a 3-km zone, we need up to 10,000 drones. These are small ‘birds’ that can be used in everyday life. They are necessary for urban warfare and short-distance reconnaissance.

The other lines require large drones that can fly over long distances. We have already contracted more than 200 such drones. That’s roughly the number required for our military to be able to perform tactical tasks on the front line. They are starting to arrive gradually — about 100 units are already in Ukraine. I think we will have all the contracted drones by late October or early November.” —>READ MORE HERE

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