‘Crimea Is Vulnerable’: Expert Explains How Ukrainian Forces Found Loophole In Russian Air Defense
- 7.11.2023, 17:33
- 14,464
There is a whole set of actions to prepare for such attacks.
A few days ago, the Ukrainian Armed Forces hit the ship repair plant in Kerch and the Russian ship “Askold”. It is noteworthy that Ukraine managed to penetrate the most protected place of Russian air defense — near the Crimean bridge.
How did it work? For a comment, the Charter97.org website turned to a military expert, the head of the Ukrainian Center for Military Legal Studies, Oleksandr Musienko:
— In order not to reveal all the details, I will say that there is a whole set of actions to prepare for such attacks. The preparatory stage, preceding the implementation, continues for a long period. As a rule, there is reconnaissance of the situation, the enemy's air defense means, and the concentration of forces.
Then there is the disorientation of the enemy's air defense using drones and other means in order to check and detect everything. Then strikes are carried out on anti-aircraft missile systems, directly on air defense systems. After this system is suppressed, missile strikes are launched.
As a rule, air strikes are carried out, this is done with great risk, because sometimes it is necessary to fly either directly to the line of battle, or even fly into territory that can already be controlled and viewed by the enemy's radar stations and air defense systems. These are very risky actions, but the risk is justified.
We see that it is possible to strike at air defense equipment, and then prepare for a larger-scale attack with strikes at objects, boats, shipyards, and so on.
Please note that the attack on the Sevastopol plant, on the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet, was preceded by strikes on Russian air defense systems. At that time there were S-400s in the western part of the Crimea, and after that the strike was carried out.
Now the attack took place on the weekend, and the day before, on Monday, an attack was made on the S-300 complex, which provided cover, as well as the radar. Such an attack is always preceded by the suppression of air defense (it is very important), and then an operation is immediately carried out, which has a complex nature — joint actions of various units and branches of the army.
— We saw several strikes against Russian air defense in the Crimea. How capable is the Russian air defense in the Crimea today?
— I can say yes. They have not yet lost their opportunities, but the peculiarity of the Crimea is that it is a peninsula. You see, they can't move air defense forces off the peninsula. They moved them by 10-20 km, but the sea is still further, that's all.
The Crimea is vulnerable. On the one hand, a plus for Russia is that this is a small territory that can be saturated with air defense and covered. We are faced with an echeloned system in which it is more difficult to find loopholes and hit it. But we still have anti-radar missiles, plus our saboteurs conduct operations. There are possibilities.
On the other hand, you see, we have hit the system — that's all, the next one will take its place, and we already roughly understand where it is located, and so on, because the area covered is small.
No matter how hard they try to hide, it is still clear in what radius they are.
— Is it possible that the moment comes when Ukraine will be able to destroy any targets on the peninsula? What conditions must be met for this?
— We are working on it. For this, Ukraine needs to be able to simultaneously deliver combined strikes with various types of weapons: ATACMS ballistic missiles, Storm Shadow cruise missiles, and drones.
We need to disorient the enemy's air defense. Air defense disorientation was also used by Russia, but we can do it much more effectively. It's just that we need more means of defeat.
Ukraine sets goals and objectives for the destruction of the military infrastructure of Russian troops in the Crimea and the demilitarization of the peninsula from the Russian military presence.
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