Ukrainian Special Forces Impediing Russian Aspirations

"It's therefore possible that this explosion has severed one of Russia's main routes into Crimea and southern Ukraine."

"It will be particularly difficult to fix it if there is scattered unexploded ordnance over a wide area."

Chris Owen, military expert

"[Tuesday's strike at the Russian military base was] demilitarization in action."

"A reminder: Crimea as a normal country [in Ukraine] is about the Black Sea, mountains, recreation and tourism, but Crimea occupied by Russians is about warehouses, explosions and high risk of death for invaders and thieves."

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

"The armed forces will continue until the complete deoccupation of Ukrainian territories ... Crimea is Ukraine."

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to President Zelenskyy

Smoke rises over the site of explosion at an ammunition storage of Russian army near the village of Mayskoye, Crimea, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022. Explosions and fires ripped through an ammunition depot in Russian-occupied Crimea on Tuesday in the second suspected Ukrainian attack on the peninsula in just over a week, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 people. (AP Photo)

 

Ukrainian special forces were at it again, reported to have been responsible for a series of mysterious explosions taking place in occupied Crimea, behind Russian lines. Just as Russian soldiers were assigned to enter besieged Kyiv and wreak havoc there in the first weeks of the Russian invasion before the level of resistance they encountered that resulted in massive loss of Russian servicemen to Ukrainian military push-back, along with destroyed Russian war munitions; except that the Ukrainian special forces are wreaking disastrous effects on Russian interests in Crimea where Russia failed in its efforts to occupy Kyiv, capture the government and demoralize its citizens.

An open-air ammunition dump and an electrical substation in the occupied peninsula's north were blasted on Tuesday, the work of an elite Ukrainian military unit. Verified by a Ukrainian official who spoke on condition he not be identified. On social media video footage showed a huge fireball at the ammunition depot. Later in the day plumes of thick, black smoke billowed from a Russian military airbase in central Crimea.

The Russian Tass news agency quoted the FSB security agency that Ukrainian operatives blew up six high-voltage transmission towers in Russia's Kursk region, close to Ukraine. Doubtless this displeases the Kremlin mightily; Russia's strikes within Ukraine, indiscriminately targeting both military sites and civilian areas in towns, villages and cities is viewed as legitimate, whereas Ukrainian forces managing to strike across the border into Russian territory is outrageous.

The blasts are described as a "massive blow to Russian logistics" by Western analysts with some sites linked to a railway Moscow uses to resupply its troops in southern Ukraine. The dynamic of the conflict has been changed, bit by bit, as Ukraine forces push Russian counterparts on their back foot in territory occupied by Russia which they considered safe enough from Ukrainian push-back to encourage "patriotic" tourism.

 

Saboteurs were also blamed for damage to a rail route in the Dzhankoi area  Reuters

 

The Kremlin earlier in the month moved its ammunition dumps deeper into Crimea following a U.S.produced Himars rocket system used by Ukraine to destroy a 40-carriage train carrying troops and weaponry in the Kherson region in Ukraine's south. Russia likely considered the targeted depot safe from the range of the 80-kilometre Himars system. Leaving the Ukraine special forces to rely on alternate means of delivering explosives, possibly by drone.

Close to ten km of railway line and two stations nearby were damaged in the wake of the explosion, leaving the only direct railway line from Russia to Crimea through Azovske. Lacking key railway connections, Russian forces now face a four-hour road trip from their base in Maiske to Kherson which has become a key target for the anticipted Ukrainian counteroffensive. A week earlier the Russian Saki airbase was hit by a series of blasts destroyig up to a dozen waplanes.

 

"It's a continuation of Ukraine's ongoing strategy to target Russian logistics centres."

"It's also clear there's a psychological element as well -- they're hitting the Russians in areas they previously thought were safe."

James Rushton, military analyst