Not one of the experiences could possibly be independently verified.
A imprecise assertion by the Ukrainian army company, posted on its web site, mentioned a number of Kalibr cruise missiles had been destroyed by an explosion, with out explicitly saying Ukraine was accountable or what weapon had been used. It mentioned the missiles had been being carried by rail and had been destined for submarine launch.
The company implied the Kyiv authorities was accountable by saying the explosion destroying the missiles continues “the method of Russia’s demilitarization and prepares the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea for de-occupation.”
In a pre-cursor to final yr’s full invasion of Ukraine, Russia in 2014 seized Crimea, then annexed the peninsula in a transfer that many international locations condemned as unlawful. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to re-capture all of the Ukrainian land Russia now occupies, together with Crimea.
A doable indication of a Ukrainian assault got here from the Russian-appointed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov. He mentioned on social media that anti-aircraft weapons had been fired within the neighborhood of Dzhankoi, the place Ukraine’s intelligence company mentioned the cruise missiles had been destroyed.
Aksenov mentioned falling particles injured one particular person and broken a house and a retailer. His report didn’t point out that cruise missiles had been hit, specify why the anti-aircraft weapons had been fired or whether or not the harm and harm had been brought on by particles from the anti-aircraft weapons or from an object that was shot down.
Unconfirmed social media experiences claimed Russia’s anti-aircraft defenses shot down drones.
All through the present battle, experiences have surfaced of assaults on Russian army bases, assassinations and different targets in Crimea, with Ukraine hardly ever, if ever, explicitly claiming accountability however welcoming such incidents.
These incidents in Crimea and different areas of Russia removed from the battle’s entrance strains have uncovered main weaknesses in Russia’s defenses, and embarrassed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who reportedly believed the invasion can be fast and straightforward.
