Ukraine has struck a Russian deep space network hub in annexed Crimea—allegedly used by the Russian Aerospace Forces—with British-supplied Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles, according to local reports.
Two attacks on the Black Sea peninsula were carried out on Wednesday morning. An employee of the FSB Border Service was injured and equipment and a satellite antenna were damaged, Russian independent news channel ASTRA reported.
Ukraine has been ramping up its attacks on Crimea, which was annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014. Kyiv has vowed to recapture the peninsula.
In October, satellite images showed Russia's Black Sea Fleet is fleeing from the port of Sevastopol in Crimea to Novorossiysk in Krasnodar Krai in southern Russia and the Russian naval port in Feodosia on the annexed peninsula, amid these increased strikes.
According to telegram channel Crimean Wind, the first attack took place at around 4 a.m. in Alushta, a city on Crimea's southern coast.
The Telegram channel said a second explosion was heard at around 5 a.m., and that Ukraine struck Russia's Center for Long-Range Space Communications in the village of Vitino in the Saky region using Storm Shadow missiles.
Storm Shadow missiles have a range of more than 150 miles, and can be launched by Ukraine from its combat aircraft.
"Full name of the center: 40th separate command and measuring complex as part of the Main Test Space Center named after G. S. Titov of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation," ASTRA said.
The center is one of three complexes that make up Russia's Yevpatoria Center for Deep Space Communications, which supports manned and robotic space missions.
Russian authorities haven't commented on the reported strikes, and Kyiv hasn't claimed responsibility. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry and Ukraine's Foreign Ministry for comment via email.
Ukraine is reported to have used Storm Shadow missiles in an attack in September on a Russian naval shipyard in Sevastopol. The missile strikes damaged Moscow's Rostov-on-Don submarine and the Minsk landing ship at the Ordzhonikidze shipyard, Ukraine's military intelligence agency told Ukrainska Pravda. That attack reportedly killed a number of leading officers.
Experts close to Ukraine's Defense Ministry previously told Newsweek that Kyiv is embarking on a strategy to "demilitarize" the Black Sea Fleet as part of steps toward eventually liberating Crimea.
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About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
