Britain said Ukraine had weakened Russian air defenses in Crimea 0
(Dan Tri) – British intelligence said that last week’s Ukrainian attack on Russian military targets in Crimea appeared to have weakened Moscow’s defense capabilities on the peninsula.
An attack on the Crimean peninsula last year (Illustration: Reuters).
The British Ministry of Defense’s intelligence report said that Ukraine’s recent attacks on Russian targets in Crimea appear to have successfully weakened Moscow’s air defenses, leaving key areas on the peninsula exposed.
Last week, the Ukrainian Air Force announced an attack on the Saky air base in the west of the peninsula.
In a report on January 9, the British Ministry of Defense said that Ukraine’s air strikes against Russian targets at Saky airport and the Crimean port city of Sevastopol `most likely reduced coverage`.
He said that this shows that Russia seems to be ineffective in deploying air defense to protect key locations despite Moscow’s previous enhanced preparations.
In response to Ukraine’s attack on the military base, Russia launched missile strikes across Ukraine, targeting cities such as Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhia.
The British Ministry of Defense commented: `The scale of Russia’s retaliation may show the level of success of the attacks carried out by the Ukrainian armed forces last week.`
On January 6, Anton Gerashchenko, advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, said that the Ukrainian Air Force is `taking steps to destroy the Russian control system in Ukraine`.
`Over the past few days, the Ukrainian air force has carried out several successful attacks on enemy targets in Crimea,` he said.
He said the attack on Saky airport targeted the Russian command post.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has not yet commented on the above assertion from the Ukrainian side and the comments of the British Ministry of Defense.
The Saky base in the town of Novofedorivka in Crimea is an important base for the naval aviation of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Ukrainian officials seem to think that attacking Crimea is the key solution to stopping Russia’s advance in other parts of Ukraine.
`Crimea is a key base for Russia’s military reserves. That’s where they have bases that store ammunition, weapons and soldiers. So the destruction of bases on the peninsula is a major part of
