by A “mysterious explosion” destroyed Russian cruise missiles being transported through occupied Crimea, Ukraine said Tuesday, days after President Vladimir Putin visited the Black Sea region.
The apparent attack was the latest to occur behind Russian lines on the annexed peninsula, and comes as officials in Kiev suggest retaking the area remains a priority for the country’s military ahead of a planned offensive later this year. anus.
Ukraine has previously refused to take responsibility for the attacks in Crimea and that was the case this time.
However, the country’s Defense Ministry said in a Telegram mail that “Kalibr NK” missiles designed to be launched from the Russian naval fleet in the Black Sea had been destroyed.
“the mysterious [explosions] continue the process of demilitarizing Russia and prepare the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula for vacation,” the publication said, adding that the missiles were being transported by rail.
The missiles can hit land targets up to 1,500 miles away and sea targets nearly 240 miles away, the Defense Ministry added.
Images posted on social media and geolocated by NBC News showed an aerial vehicle flying near a rail yard in the Dzhankoi area of northern Crimea. Then it dove toward the ground and burst into flames. Then a loud explosion was heard. The person filming the video can then be heard asking, “Did he hit my house?”
A Russian military airbase sits near Dzhankoi and Ukrainian officials have long claimed that the town and its surroundings have become Moscow’s largest military base in Crimea.
One person was injured with a damaged house and shop in the Dzhankoi area, Russian-installed Crimean chief Sergey Aksyonov said in a Telegram. mail.
“The air defense worked,” he said, without mentioning the missiles or specifying what kind of attack it was.
In a separate post on his own Telegram channel, Aksyonov’s adviser Oleg Kryuchkov said the attack targeted civilians.
“All drones targeted civilian sites,” he wrote, along with images showing a downed small plane. “There are no military installations nearby,” he added.
NBC News was unable to independently verify his claims.
Russia has bombarded Ukrainian cities with high-precision cruise missiles that are typically launched from its warships, often at civilian targets. Russia has denied targeting civilian infrastructure.
While much of the fighting in recent months has focused on the eastern city of Bakhmut, analysts say the explosion in Crimea could mean Ukraine is still continuing its offensive against strategic targets elsewhere.
“It allows the Ukrainians to gather intelligence on Russian responses in Crimea as the Ukrainian Armed Forces plan future military operations there,” said Mick Ryan, a retired major general and adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in in washington. he said in Twitter.
Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014, first by force and then in a referendum, which has been denounced as a sham by the United States and much of the international community. Since then it has become the main supply route for his forces in the south and east.
There have been several attacks on the peninsula since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In August, an ammunition depot, also in Dzhankoi, was hit by a series of explosions, which Russia characterized at the time as an act of “sabotage.”
Then, in October, another explosion destroyed part of the Kerch bridge that connects the Russian mainland with the Crimean peninsula. Putin personally took the project of connecting Crimea to the Russian mainland and the 12-mile structure built after the annexation personally, making the attack, which Ukraine did not claim, a symbolic blow.
“Strikes like this are not silver bullets to win wars. But its impact is cumulative in the degradation of Russian morale and war capacity,” Ryan said.
The latest explosion came just two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Crimea on Saturday, a day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him, alleging he oversaw the war crime of illegal kidnapping. and the deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. .
During his visit on Friday, Putin did not express any intention to loosen his grip. “Obviously, security issues are top priority for Crimea and Sevastopol now,” he said, referring to Crimea’s largest city. “We will do everything necessary to defend ourselves against any threat.”
Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelenskyy has vowed to retake the territory.
