An airfield belonging to Russian forces in occupied Crimea has been left in flames after a devastating Ukrainian drone strike, according to reports. Footage shared online purportedly shows the fire at Kacha airfield following a huge round of strikes from Kyiv’s forces.
Reports suggest Ukraine launched a massive aerial bombardment overnight on the Ukrainian peninsula, which has been occupied by Russian forces since 2014 and illegally annexed by Moscow. Loud explosions were heard near the Saky airfield in Novofedorivka, as well as at the Belbek air base near Sevastopol. A missile base in the Hvardiiske area was also reported to have come under attack by Ukrainian UAVS.
The Telegram channel Crimean Winds noted: “In the last 15 minutes, there were several explosions from the direction of Krasne village, flashes were seen and a sound 20 seconds later in Hvardiiske.”
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the governor of Sevastopol, claimed that Russian air defence systems had shot down a number of drones.
“The loud sounds heard in the city are our military repelling a drone attack,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.
“Early reports indicate that seven UAVs have been destroyed over the sea at a great distance from the shore,” he said after 02:00am.
Later, at around 03:00am, Razvozhayev wrote that the Russian “fleet, in cooperation with air defence forces, is repelling a large-scale combined attack on Sevastopol over the sea near Cape Khersones, Sevastopol Bay, Kacha and Balaklava.”
“No facilities in the city or in the waters of Sevastopol have been damaged as of now,” he claimed.
The Russian Ministry of Defence said that it had shot down 89 UAVs over the occupied peninsula and 23 drones over the Black Sea.
The Crimean partisan group Atesh earlier reported that the Russians had strengthened military units near the Crimean Bridge and put them on full combat alert, anticipating a possible attack.
At the same time, Putin’s army has increased the number of military exercises on the peninula, as tensions continue to rise.
Atesh also said that Putin’s army is planning mass raids to identify pro-Ukrainian activists under the guise of anti-terrorist exercises.
New checkpoints will be installed on the peninsula and additional patrols will be deployed to check people’s documents and telephones.