In the early hours of Friday, July 26, an air alert was declared on the Crimean Peninsula, which is temporarily occupied by Russia. Explosions were heard in Novofedorivka, the Okunivka area, and Simferopol. Eyewitnesses report a fire at the “Saki” airfield in Novofedorivka, where the detonation of ammunition was also heard.
The Telegram channel Astra, citing its own sources, reports that in the early hours of Friday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces struck the Novofedorivka military airfield with ATACMS missiles. As a result of the attack, a radar station was destroyed, stored ammunition was hit, and two Russian servicemen were injured with shrapnel wounds.
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Additionally, it is reported that another ATACMS missile hit a Russian air defense site five kilometers from the village of Shovkovychne in the same district:
“As a result, a radar installation was destroyed. According to sources, the Ukrainian Armed Forces hit Crimea with four ATACMS missiles, two of which were shot down,” Astra reports on X/Twitter.
Residents reported ambulances working in the area and the Russian Telegram channel Fighterbomber, wrote in connection with the attack on the airfield: “The morning is not good again, country. Well, did you deploy the RC-135? Did you comply with all international norms? Did it help? Eternal memory...”
The pro-Russian milblogger was commenting on an earlier post in which he suggested that a UK RC-135 Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft that had operated near Crimea on July 24 was providing targeting information to Ukraine.
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, December 24, 2024
He also noted, “There must be at least two armored vehicles at the airfields by regulation, which will allow for the evacuation of the wounded in situations where other methods are impossible.”
“In other words, to move aircraft if we want to have anything left in the impact zone from storms, scalps, [Anglo-French Storm Shadow/ SCALP EG missiles] and ATACMS, we need to do it at least every 5 hours. Or move them out of the impact zone,” he added.
At the time of publication, neither the Ukrainian nor the Russian authorities had officially commented on the incident. This airfield is one of the key bases for Moscow’s aviation on the peninsula. Before the occupation of Crimea, it was a base for Ukrainian Forces, but now hosts the 43rd Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which mainly operates Su-30SM, Su-33, and Su-24M bombers.
Additionally, this base has previously housed mostly reconnaissance Su-24MR aircraft and Il-76 military transports. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Moscow has used the captured base to store aviation bombs and missiles, which have been used to primarily attack the southern regions of Ukraine - Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.
Last week Ukrainian drones struck a Russian coast guard base in Crimea during Russian naval exercises.
Ukrainian drones struck a Russian coast guard base in occupied Crimea – hitting a command center and an ammunition / equipment depot – in an overnight drone attack on July 17-18, a Kyiv Post source said. At the same time Ukraine struck a power substation, technical facilities and firing positions.
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