There were five strikes at Belbek airfield, Crimea – Operational Command Pivden
The Defence Forces of Ukraine now have specialised tools that grant them the ability to strike Russian military infrastructure in temporarily occupied Crimea.
Source: Yurii Ihnat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, during the national joint 24/7 newscast and in an interview with Radio Liberty; Natalia Humeniuk, Head of the Joint Press Centre of the Defence Forces of Ukraine, during the national joint 24/7 newscast.
Quote from Ihnat: "We can systematically and regularly inflict strikes, diminishing their combat capability − this is possible now because we have certain tools. Of course, we need more. We need more means of attack, and as such, we would like our partners to deliver aircraft to us sooner," the spokesperson stated.
Details: He added that the jury is still out regarding the level of damage inflicted to Russian equipment, and that the arrival of satellite imagery and reconnaissance data is still awaited.
Quote from Ihnat: "We would like to disable more of the occupiers’ aviation-related equipment. Russian presence in Crimea is decreasing, and has been since before the attack. Our tactical aircraft pilots are clearing enemy forces out of Crimea using guided missiles provided to us by our partners," the spokesperson mentioned.
Details: Ihnat mentioned that Russia actively launches attacks on Ukraine from around five different airfields in temporarily occupied Crimea.
At the same time, Natalia Humeniuk reported 5 strikes on the Belbek airfield.
Quote from Humeniuk: "The occupiers themselves have already admitted that five missiles ‘found shelter’ in the territory of temporarily occupied Crimea. They even marked the locations where it happened. And they acknowledged that they did not have time to disperse the air fleet [to evade the attacks], including the aircraft that ended up damaged at Belbek."
Details: She also added that no matter how many air defence systems the Russians deploy in Crimea, all of them will be identified and dealt with.
Humeniuk said that the recent closure of the Crimean Bridge, resulting from a Ukrainian attack, was associated with the repositioning of Russian air defences. The defence force "closely monitors these manoeuvres," and the "placement of air defence [at any other given target] indicates that [it is valuable] and something we should take a closer look at."
Background:
- Explosions were heard in the cities of Sevastopol, near Saky, Feodosiia, Rozdilne and Hvardiiske in occupied Crimea on the afternoon of 31 January. Russian occupation authorities issued an air-raid warning and suspended traffic on the Crimean bridge.
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