UKRaine’s Sea Drones Alter Balance of Power in Black Sea; RUssia and UKR Trade Aerial Attacks; Breaking Down RU’s Lines – General Reports UKR Gains in South; UKR Holding Back RU Offensive in 2 Directions; 34 Combat Clashes Recorded, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

By admin On Aug 12, 2023

WSJ: Ukraine’s Sea Drones Alter Balance of Power in Black Sea:

Ukraine has altered the military balance of power in the Black Sea in recent months, using sea drones to strike back at Russia’s more powerful navy and threaten Russian military supply lines and shipping lanes.

Small, inexpensive and difficult to defend against, the homemade drones have allowed Ukraine to open up a new front in the war, attacking strategic military targets and symbols of Russia’s dominance in the Black Sea—including the headquarters of Moscow’s fleet in occupied Crimea and a bridge connecting the peninsula to Russia. Ukraine says the drones are developed and produced domestically, but has been secretive about the details of the program.

The strikes have intensified in recent days as Ukraine has retaliated against a wave of Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea and threats to attack civilian ships heading to Ukraine. Russia also withdrew in July from an international agreement that allowed Ukraine to resume its Black Sea grain exports last year, imperiling a key link in the global food-supply chain.

Since Russia exited the agreement, Ukrainian sea drones have demonstrated their ability to strike across a swath of the Black Sea, ramming a Russian landing ship in a navy shipyard in the port city of Novorossiysk, more than 360 miles from Odesa, and an oil tanker that carried jet fuel for Moscow’s armed forces. Earlier in July, Moscow also said a Ukrainian drone struck a Russian reconnaissance ship in the middle of the Black Sea.

Military analysts say the surface drones could change the complexion of the war by forcing Russia to commit more resources to protecting its ports, warships and cargo ships that it uses to transport weapons, fuel and other supplies for its military. The attacks are also expected to further raise shipping and insurance costs for vessels headed to Russia’s vital Black Sea ports. In concert with recent aerial drone attacks that have hit Moscow, the drones show Kyiv’s ability to strike far beyond the theater of war inside Ukraine.

“I think the message is to say nothing is safe,” said Gabriela Iveliz Rosa Hernández, a research associate with the Arms Control Association who studies Eastern European militaries. “It’s Ukraine reminding Russia that there is no normality.”

Ukraine isn’t making much progress with a counteroffensive launched earlier this summer aimed at reclaiming land occupied by Russia earlier in the war. The operation is proceeding more slowly than expected as Ukrainian forces run into heavily fortified Russian positions and miles upon miles of minefields. Air- and sea-drone attacks behind Russian lines have allowed Ukraine to open up new fronts in the war while the fighting moves slowly on the main battlefields.

The sea drones, also known as unmanned surface vehicles, are only 18 feet long—no larger than a small fishing boat—with a range of up to 800 kilometers, or about 500 miles, and can operate for up to 60 hours at a time, according to the Ukrainian government. Each vessel costs a quarter of a million dollars, a fraction of the tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars it costs to build the larger Russian ships that have been targeted by the drones. —>READ MORE HERE

Russia and Ukraine trade aerial attacks as Zelenskyy makes another move against corruption:

Russia fired missiles at western Ukraine that killed an 8-year-old boy, local officials said, and drones that Russian officials blamed on the Ukrainian military targeted Moscow for a third straight day but reportedly didn’t cause significant damage.

Also Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the firing of all the heads of regional conscription centers, part of his crackdown on corruption since the outbreak of Russia’s war in Ukraine more than 17 months ago.

The missile that killed the boy struck a house in western Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk region, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Polish border, according to the office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general.

But Ukrainian air defenses frustrated Russia’s daylight attack on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. Debris from intercepted missiles fell on residential areas of the city, including the premises of a children’s hospital, without causing casualties, local authorities said.

Falling wreckage of missiles and drones has in the past killed people on the ground and damaged buildings in Kyiv.

Meanwhile, a drone fell in western Moscow after Russian air defense systems stopped it, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Nobody was hurt, he said. —>READ MORE HERE

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