Satellite images published on Thursday revealed destruction at a Russian air base in Crimea, which was targeted in an attack that suggested Ukraine may have acquired new long-range strike power with the potential to influence the direction of the conflict.
Images provided by the independent satellite business Planet Labs revealed three nearly similar holes where buildings at Russia’s Saki air facility had been struck with great accuracy. The facility on Crimea’s southwest coast had sustained substantial fire damage, with the burnt-out husks of at least eight wrecked jets clearly evident.
Russia has denied that any aircraft were destroyed and claims that the explosions witnessed at the Russian air base on Tuesday were unintentional. Ukraine has not officially claimed credit for the strike or provided details on how it was carried out.
Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukrainian presidential adviser told Reuters in a message, “Officially, we are not confirming or denying anything; there are numerous scenarios for what might have happened… bearing in mind that there were several epicentres of explosions at exactly the same time”
According to Western military analysts, the amount of the damage and apparent precision of the hit implied a formidable new capability with potentially significant ramifications.
Russia, which invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014, utilises the peninsula as a base for its Black Sea navy and as the primary supply route for its invading forces in southern Ukraine, where Kiev is planning a counter-offensive in the coming weeks.
“I’m not an intel analyst, but it doesn’t look good,” Mark Hertling, a former commander of US ground forces in Europe, tweeted, referring to a photograph of the Russian base’s wreckage.
“I am. It’s very good “His fellow retired four-star American general, Michael Hayden, former director of the CIA and National Security Agency, responded on Twitter.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, Ukrainian officials are framing the Crimea strike as “the start of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the south, suggesting that the Ukrainian military expects intense fighting in August and September that could decide the outcome of the next phase of the war.”
The manner in which the attack was carried out is unknown. Some Ukrainian officials have been cited as saying it may have been sabotaged by infiltrators. However, the almost similar impact craters and simultaneous explosions appear to imply that it was attacked by a salvo of weapons capable of avoiding Russian defences.
The site is considerably outside the range of sophisticated missiles that Western countries have acknowledged supplying to Ukraine thus far, but it is within range of more powerful versions that Kyiv has desired. Ukraine also possesses anti-ship missiles that could theoretically be deployed to attack land targets.
