Ukraine has confirmed it was behind a missile attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea on Friday afternoon
Air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat, speaking on Ukrainian television, said that while he was pleased by the result of the strike, he had hoped the effects would be more dramatic.
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“I wanted a bigger hole to be honest,” he said.
Referencing the UK and France-supplied Storm Shadow and Scalp cruise missiles used in the attack, he added: “This is the best advertisement in the world of our weapons, which fly exactly on target.
“For some reason, the Russian air defense cannot cope, for the umpteenth time. To be continued.”
The Russian ministry of defense announced the attack on the HQ in Sevastopol, saying in a post on Telegram: “In the course of repelling the missile attack, anti-aircraft missiles shot down five missiles.
“As a result of the attack, the historic headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet was damaged. According to the information available, one soldier was killed.”
They later revised their assessment to say the dead soldier was only "missing."
Ihnat said the attack was carried out with the help of “Russian residents of Crimea” who provided Ukraine with information.
He added: “This is not only a blow to the heart of the naval forces of the Black Sea Fleet, this is a blow to the dictatorship of Putin. Everyone will see it. This cannot be hidden.
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“They will once again understand that Crimea is Ukrainian and Crimea will soon be liberated.”
Russian officials also reported that the peninsula has been hit by an "unprecedented" cyberattack targeting its internet providers.
It comes two days after a missile strike on Russia’s backup Black Sea Fleet command post.
Elsewhere this week, on Wednesday Kyiv also announced two Russian planes and a helicopter had been “significantly damaged” in an attack carried out by “unknown saboteurs” on one of the Kremlin’s main military airfields, 30 km northeast of Moscow.
In a post on Telegram, the Directorate of Military Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR) said the operation was carried out on Monday at the Chkalovsky Air Base and “caused quite a bit of hysteria in the higher military corridors.”
The HUR added: “Unknown saboteurs… planted explosives and detonated AN-148 and IL-20 aircraft (both belong to the 354th special purpose aviation regiment) at the airfield, which is carefully guarded, as well as the MI-28N [Havoc] helicopter, which was actively involved in shooting down attack drones over Moscow region.”
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