Powerful explosions followed the reported impacts of Ukraine-launched ATAMCS ballistic missiles striking a pair of Russian air bases in the Crimea peninsula early on Friday morning, causing casualties, sparking fires and damaging military infrastructure, news reports and social media said.
At the Saki military air base near the village of Novofedorivka, on the Crimean west seacoast, local media reported at least two heavy blasts occurring around 3 a.m. local time. Video geo-located to the area showed fires reaching more than 100 meters (330 feet) into the sky, billowing smoke, and more than a dozen secondary explosions.
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The pro-Ukraine military information platform Krymsky Veter said an aircraft ammunition depot was destroyed, and that once the blaze got going, Russian Air Force air-to-air missiles in bunkers caught fire and flew randomly into the sky.
The independent Russian news agency Astra said two Russian service personnel were injured. Crimean social media told of multiple ambulances responding to the scene. At least two of the American-made ATACMS missiles carried out the strike, ASTRA reported.
According to those sources, another pair of nighttime explosions was heard and seen some five kilometers (3 miles) from Novofedorivka and Saky airfield, near Shelkovichne village, where a Russian Air Force radar station was reportedly damaged. Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency confirmed those accounts and reported a Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile battery had been put out of action.
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Uncorroborated reports told of probable Ukrainian attack drones heard or seen in air space over Crimea and being shot down or hitting targets near the cities of Yevpatoria and Simferopol. Some accounts said two of the four ATACMS had been shot down by local air defenses.
Neither Russia’s Defense Ministry nor Ukraine’s Army General Staff, on Friday morning, made comment on the strikes. In past ATACMS strikes against Crimea, Ukraine’s army Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) has often taken credit for employing mixed drone-missile tactics in attacks.
The popular Russian Air Force milbloggers, FighterBomber, in comments published less than four hours after the missile strikes, complained it had been obvious the Ukrainian attacks were coming.
He said Kremlin military leadership ignored a Royal Air Force air patrol led by a high-tech RC-135W spy plane that spent hours on Wednesday cruising off the Crimean coast, over international waters, in a mission to collect data on Russian military sites and units for Kyiv target planners.
On Wednesday, NATO air forces staged a complex, UK-led air operation over the western Black Sea culminating with the fly-by of Crimea’s coast by the RC-135 reconnaissance plane and a pair of RAF Eurofighter Typhoons. A Russian Su-27 fighter jet eventually intercepted the British military aircraft but did not interfere. Hard-core Moscow supporters have argued the Kremlin must somehow stop the NATO data collection flights, rather than just sending a Russian fighter pilot to wave at them.
“Once again, guys, it’s not a very good morning all. Well, did we manage to turn back the RC-135? Did we respect all international norms? Did it help? I told you about all of this already. Eternal memory to the dead,” FighterBomber told his 500,000+ followers in a post blaming Russian Air Force leadership for inaction.
Following a six-month US legislative ban on sending military support of any kind to Ukraine, Kyiv, starting in April, received new supplies of ATACMS surface-to-surface missiles, a precision-guided, long-range weapon Ukraine has mostly used to attack and degrade Russian air bases and air defenses, particularly in Crimea.
Prior to Friday, the most recent confirmed Ukrainian ATACMS strike took place on July 21, when at least a single missile impacted in the vicinity of a Russian S-300 anti-aircraft system NATO reporting name SA-10 Grumble) near the central Crimean village of Novostepove.
The missile’s cluster munitions destroyed main 9S19 radar, as well as four tracking and target acquisition radar, the pro-Ukraine Oko_Gora Crimea information platform reported, citing satellite images of a firing site geo-located to the north of village.
Other sources reported that an attack took place near Novostepove at that time, but did not confirm the damage. According to its manufacturers, the S-300B is one of the best air defense systems in the world.
On July 22, dozens of Ukrainian kamikaze drones hit an air base near the city Morozovsk, in Russia’s far-western Rostov Oblast, adjacent to Crimea, targeting S-300 and S-400 air defense systems, parked combat aircraft, and airfield infrastructure.
Official Russian sources said all the Ukrainian drones were shot down but Russian milbloggers, social media, and Ukrainian official and social media platforms said the strikes hit aircraft and ground facilities.
On Friday morning Russian authorities reported fires in Rostov Oblast’ following the alleged shoot-down of a wave of Ukrainian drones.
All incoming aircraft were shot down and there was no substantial damage to military or civilian property, those statements said.
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