Ukraine: Russia’s Crimea fleet ‘will be sliced up like a salami’
Joel Gehrke
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Russia’s naval forces in Crimea “will be sliced up like a salami” if they attempt to remain in the occupied peninsula, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned after the bombardment of Russian fleet headquarters.
“The Russian Black Sea fleet will be sliced up like a salami,” Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov wrote on social media. “The process is painful, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine conduct precision strikes exclusively on military infrastructure.”
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Russian authorities have “cordoned off two blocks” around the building that houses the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters, according to Russian state media. Videos published on social media show a pillar of smoke rising from that purported building as Ukrainian forces continue to strike Russian positions on the peninsula at the strategic heart of the war in Ukraine.
“There are two options for the future of Russia’s Black Sea fleet: voluntary or forced self-neutralization,” Danilov wrote.
https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1705171037988544940
The attack on Friday morning came on the heels of another claimed Ukrainian strike on a Russian air base in Crimea, although an adviser to the Russian-installed Crimean authorities countered that Russian air defenses intercepted the incoming missiles. Russian forces in Crimea have come under increasingly regular and destructive attacks. Last week, a surprise strike on a Russian shipyard left a Russian attack submarine and landing vessel “damaged beyond economical repair,” according to private-sector analysts who studied video and photographic evidence of the destruction.
“So, while the occupiers are recovering in the city of Melitopol and air-raid sirens are still sounding in the city of Sevastopol, I would like to thank the Air Force pilots once again!” Ukrainian Air Force Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on Telegram. “I hope the Russian air defense will not let us down next time either.”
The bombardment coincided with reports from the Russian side of a cyberattack on Crimea.
“An unprecedented cyberattack on Crimean Internet providers,” Russian-installed Crimean government adviser Oleg Krychkov wrote on Telegram. We observe Internet outages on the peninsula. All services are working to neutralize the threat.”
The aerial strike involved the long-range Storm Shadow missiles provided by the United Kingdom and France, according to Ukrainian officials.
“I wanted a bigger hole to be honest,” Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat told Ukrainian media. “This is the best advertisement in the world of our weapons, which fly exactly on target. For some reason, the Russian air defense cannot cope, for the umpteenth time. To be continued.”
President Joe Biden has hesitated to follow British and French officials in providing U.S.-made long-range missiles to Ukraine, known as the Army Tactical Missile System, but Zelensky renewed his appeal for those weapons during a trip to Washington this week.
“We have been working on this issue for a very long time and very hard,” he said. “And it will be the same as with F-16s. We understand what will happen. And the moment will come when we will all see it.”
U.S. officials have sent mixed signals about Biden’s response to that request. The president “has determined that he would not provide ATACMS, but he has also not taken it off the table in the future,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Thursday. And yet, by Friday, “three U.S. officials and a congressional official” reportedly told NBC that Biden had assured Zelensky that “a small number of long-range missiles” would be provided.
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In any case, Ukrainian forces intend to continue targeting Russian positions in Crimea, as the Black Sea Fleet has launched many of the Kalibr cruise missiles that have caused devastation throughout Ukraine.
“The best and safest way to preserve the integrity of the property-economic complex of the city of Akhtiar (old name — Sevastopol) and the surrounding areas is voluntary shipwreck,” Danilov said. “The famous Russian military reflection — the destruction of own fleet when the enemy approaches — should have time continuity and tradition of succession.”