By: Samuel Lin
On Saturday, April 29th, a large fuel source in Sevastopol, Crimea, blew up into a huge rising column of black smoke. The Sevastopol mayor Mikhail Razvozhayev blames this attack on a Ukraine drone attack, but Andriy Yusov, a Ukrainian military representative, responded that this attack was “God’s punishment” on Russia.
One Ukrainian drone successfully survived Russian defenses and hit the oil tanks capable of holding up to 40,000 tons of fuel in total. The resulting combustion was volatile, but the Russian firefighters were able to contain the blaze.
Nevertheless, not all Ukrainian drones were able to penetrate Russian defenses. According to Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-appointed mayor of Sevastopol, the Ukrainians had launched at least ten drones in Sevastopol. Russian defenses shot down two drones and disconnected another using radio-electronics.
“The air defense forces and electronic warfare units prevented another attack on Sevastopol,” said Razvozhayev.
Ukraine has attempted multiple attacks against Russia. For example, in October of 2022, Ukraine severely damaged the only bridge connecting Crimea and Russia, the Kerch Strait Bridge. This was a huge success for Ukraine, as it cut off the supply route between Crimea and the Russian mainland and demolished Putin’s symbol of power over Crimea.
More recently, Ukraine has had more ambushes on Russia, which are signs of a potential huge counteroffensive. Besides the oil depot attack, Ukraine has allegedly attacked Russian officials in Melitopol using explosives to destroy the rail tracks serving Russian freight trains.
"As a result of the incident, a locomotive and several wagons of a freight train derailed," said Alexander Bogomaz, the Russian governor of Bryansk.
Ukraine has also fought the Russians in Bakhmut. On May 10th, after a battle for control of the city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian defenses forced the Russians to retreat up to 2 kilometers.
“In some areas of the front, the enemy could not resist the onslaught of the Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of up to 2km,” said Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrsky, a Ukrainian military officer.
These various attacks may suggest Ukrainians are preparing to launch a strike, using weapons and vehicles supplied by allies. So far, the West has promised to deliver aid and armored vehicles to Ukraine, but they have not arrived yet. In addition, Ukraine lacks the long-range missiles to attack deep into Russia’s territory and explode ammunition centers. Once Ukraine receives all the weapons, it may launch a counterattack to reclaim some of Crimea.
“Crimea is our land, our territory,” said Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian “It is our sea and our mountains. Give us your weapons — we will return what is ours.”
Russia prepared itself for the predicted counterattack by digging trenches and fortifying the military bases.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/29/world/europe/russia-ukraine-war-crimea-fire.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-launched-10-attack-drones-on-crimea-russian-official-2023-5
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/07/europe/russia-ukraine-war-crimea-drone-attacks-sevastopol-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/fuel-tank-ablaze-sevastopol-official-says-apparent-drone-attack-2023-04-29/
https://theweek.com/in-depth/1022166/what-we-know-about-ukraines-crucial-upcoming-spring-counteroffensive