Russia has been supplying its occupying forces in southern Ukraine via Crimea, which has been occupied since 2014. Local residents and the media are now reporting explosion noises on the peninsula. According to Russian information, Ukrainian drone attacks were repelled.
According to official information, the Russian air defense repelled a drone attack on the Crimean Peninsula, which has been annexed by Moscow since 2014. "Air defense systems shot down two unmanned aerial vehicles over the sea near Belbek in the morning," Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Rasvozhayev said on his Telegram channel.
Belbek is a Russian military airfield that was repeatedly attacked by the Ukrainian army after the start of the war. According to Razvozhayev, all systems are working normally. There is no official information about damage, deaths or injuries. The media and residents had previously reported explosion noises from the direction of Belbek Airport on social networks.
Russia also repeatedly flies airstrikes against Ukraine. The Russian military uses so-called kamikaze drones on a large scale, which are equipped with explosives and at the end of their flight fall vertically on their target. The relatively slow and noisy drones are an easy target for anti-aircraft defenses, but their sheer number and constant close surveillance of the airspace pose a major challenge for Ukraine's air defenses. Then there is the cost factor - a drone made from cheap parts has to be shot down with expensive weapon systems.
According to an expert, the Russian attacks with "kamikaze drones" are deliberately flown at night and along the Dnipro River. "Logically, not everything is visible in the sky at night," Colonel Vladislav Zelesnyov told the Ukrainian agency RBK-Ukraina. The flight route from the south along the Dnipro was also chosen in order to avoid the Ukrainian air defenses if possible.
Russia supplies its occupying forces in southern Ukraine primarily via Crimea, which has been occupied since 2014. Ukraine is therefore repeatedly targeting logistical and military targets on the peninsula. The recovery of Crimea is also one of Kiev's declared goals after the Russian war of aggression had increasingly stalled in recent months. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that this could be done through diplomatic or military channels.
