Ukrainian advances in Crimea cripple Russian air defences

Ukrainians have achieved significant success in countering Russian air defences in Crimea. Over the past two months, they have neutralized around 15 enemy defence systems. The peninsula, occupied by Vladimir Putin’s forces, is becoming increasingly defenceless, and Russians are advised to withdraw to safer cities.

The Strategic Communications Center of the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced that in the past two months, approximately 15 air defence systems had been destroyed in occupied Crimea. "The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to eliminate Russian occupiers, bringing the day of the liberation of Ukrainian Crimea closer!" reads the communiqué from the Center.

According to Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Russia has deployed the latest elements of the S-500 air defence system in Crimea, even though they have not yet passed all the required tests.

"The Russian army is strengthening air defenses on the peninsula, but these systems are proving powerless against modern Western technology," Budanov stated.

Ukrainian attacks on Crimea are carried out regularly using drones and Western weaponry, including long-range ATACMS missiles. Unlike attacks on Russian territory, Ukraine's Western allies have permitted attacks on Crimea, occupied since 2014, since the start of the current war.

The last such attack took place on June 12 at 8 PM ET, when they destroyed two S-400 radars near Sevastopol and Belbek base, and one S-300 division. Ukrainians have destroyed over 15 Russian radar stations, dozens of launchers, and over 10 military groupings.

As reported by Onet, representatives of the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar partisan movement "ATESH" reported that the Russian army is moving air defence installations from the peninsula to the Belgorod region. Partisans also report that Russian soldiers working with these systems have been "encouraged" to move their families to better-protected cities in the Southern Military District of Russia.

Western missile systems, such as ATACMS, are changing the dynamics of the conflict. The transfer of long-range missiles occurred relatively late because Western countries feared escalating the conflict. Only the Russian offensive from Russian territory, which began in the Kharkiv region, led to lifting these restrictions.

The transfer of long-range missiles occurred so late precisely because in the first year of the war, Western countries feared that strikes on Crimea could lead to excessive escalation of the conflict, military analysts explain.

Ukraine has long sought to attack these areas with its own forces, carrying out air raids on oil refineries and military depots. Russia's strategy of using its territory as a base for attacks forced the West to change its approach and allow Ukraine to use modern missile systems against targets in Crimea.