By Josh Lederman and Hyder Abbasi
Dnipro, Ukraine - Pro-Ukrainian saboteurs (click here) were involved in the recent spate of explosions at Russian military sites in Crimea, a Ukrainian government official told NBC News.
The series of blasts hit military depots and airbases in the annexed peninsula over the past week, hinting at a growing ability by Ukraine's military or its backers to strike deep behind enemy lines, a development that could shift the dynamics of the war.
Kyiv has stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility for the explosions. The government official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to disclose information about the Crimea strikes to journalists....
August 18, 2022
By Annabelle Timsit, Sammy Westfall, Adam Taylor and Ellen Francis
Ukrainian officials have told The Washington Post that the explosions — including those at two air bases and an ammunition depot — were the work of Ukraine’s special forces seeking to disrupt Russia’s supply lines. Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014 and has occupied it since.
The Black Sea peninsula, which is about the size of Massachusetts, has long been fought-over by the world’s great powers. For years, it has been a point of contention between Moscow and Kyiv.
As it emerges as a new battlefront in the war, here’s what you need to know about Crimea and its strategic importance....
By Zoe Strozewski
More than half of Russia's naval aviation combat jets (click here) from its Black Sea fleet were knocked out in a series of explosions at a Russian airbase in Crimea earlier this month, according to a western official cited in a Reuters report Friday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said that Ukraine was now steadily exacting "kinetic effects" far behind Russia's lines in the ongoing war that began February 24. This is impacting Russia's logistics support, as well as having "a significant psychological effect on the Russian leadership," the official said.
Newsweek was not able to independently verify the Russian jet losses and reached out to Russia's Defense Ministry for confirmation and comment....
The Russian military relies on propaganda and political hubris to maintain it's fearsome reputation. It has no successful military industrial complex. It relies on spies and spineless USA presidents to carry it's reputation as invincible.
It is time Vladimir Putin retire or resign and end this siege of Ukraine. Russia cannot contain the war. Given it's vulnerability from inside it's own borders Putin should not have pulled the linchpin on an invasion without knowing he would succeed. It has been a disastrous war without mercy on any civilian, especially children.
By Holly Ellyatt
When Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014 (click here) little was done to stop it or actively help Ukraine get its territory back, a salient point given Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor that begun earlier this year.
But now, Ukraine appears to be finally in a position to fight back on the peninsula with a spate of recent incidents in which Russian military positions and infrastructure in Crimea have been damaged.
These, it’s believed, are likely to be a part of Ukraine’s tentative counteroffensive in the south as it seeks to dislodge the occupying forces and eventually reclaim its territory, once and for all.
The latest incidents in Crimea took place on Tuesday when a fire caused multiple explosions in a Russian ammunition depot near Dzhankoi in the north of the peninsula. A nearby railway and electricity sub-station were also damaged as well as residential buildings, Russia’s defense ministry said....
