Kiev: High leading officers were killed in the attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters
Ukraine announced on Saturday that dozens of people, including leading figures in the Russian Navy, were killed or wounded in a missile attack launched Friday on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the coastal city of Sevastopol in Crimea.
The Ukrainian army said, “The details of the attack will be revealed as soon as possible, and the result will be the killing and wounding of dozens of occupiers, including senior leadership figures in the fleet”.
The Ukrainian attack occurred during a meeting of the Russian Navy leadership.
Ukrainian intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said the attack led to the deaths of at least nine people, including generals, as he told Voice of America.
Budanov declined to comment on whether Western-made missiles were used in the attack.
On Friday, the Ukrainian army praised the implementation of a successful strike on the general headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet command in the temporarily occupied city of Sevastopol.
The Russian-appointed governor in Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvogayev, wrote on Telegram, “The enemy launched a missile attack on the fleet’s general headquarters”.
Footage circulated on social media showed thick smoke rising from the fleet’s general headquarters.
Officials said parts of the missile fell near a nearby theater.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced in a statement on Telegram that a soldier was killed as a result of the strike, then returned and explained that he was missing.
In addition, Oleg Kryuchkov, an advisor to the Moscow-appointed governor of Crimea, announced hours after the Ukrainian bombing of the general headquarters of the Russian fleet that Crimea was subjected to an unprecedented electronic attack against Internet service providers on the peninsula, which led to an Internet outage, without explaining what If the cyber-attack is related to the bombing.
The Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and the city of Sevastopol, where the general headquarters of the targeted fleet are, play a key role in the Russian military attack on Ukraine, whether in terms of securing supplies for the Russian occupation forces in southern Ukraine or in carrying out missile strikes.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has intensified its strikes on the Crimean Peninsula with drones and missiles, announcing the destruction of air defense systems, a shipyard, and two ships there.
Ukrainian forces want to disrupt Russian supply lines and put an end to Russian military control over the Black Sea.
The Ukrainian successes reveal the difficulties faced by the Russian air defenses, while Ukraine, in the midst of the counterattack it’s launching to regain its territory, is trying to confuse the Russian defense by attacking its supply lines and command centers away from the front line.
On the southern front, a general leading the counterattack explained that the Ukrainian army had breached Russian troop lines in this area.
General Oleksandr Tarnavsky told CNN, “On the left flank near the village of Karbov, we have achieved a breakthrough and are continuing to advance”.
He acknowledged that progress was slower than Ukraine had hoped for.
He added in the interview that the attack isn’t as fast as we expected, not like World War II movies, but the importance of not losing this initiative”.
Last month, Kiev declared a strategic victory when it recaptured the southern village of Robotin.
Tarnavsky stated that the major breakthrough of the counterattack will be the recovery of the city of Tokmak, located about 20 km from the front line, which was controlled by Russian forces at the beginning of the invasion.
Recapturing Tokmak would allow Ukrainian forces to advance towards Melitopol and the Crimean Peninsula.
