Ukraine strikes Crimea with ATACMS missiles for the first time – The Economist
Ukraine launched an unprecedented attack on the occupied Crimea using long-range U.S. ATACMS missiles on Oct. 30, UK weekly news magazine The Economist revealed in an article published on Nov. 1.
Social media reported multiple explosions near Sevastopol on the morning of Oct. 30, with smoke visible over the city and in the South and Streletska bays. Occupying forces claimed that their “air defense is active.”
Read also: Russia claims ‘first interceptions’ of ATACMS missiles, Ukraine responds
Telegram channel Astra, citing local sources, reported that the explosions were from an attack on a missile and anti-aircraft position. According to their claims, this incident resulted in injuries to 17 Russian military personnel.
Later, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have intercepted eight Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
Read also: Ukrainian drones once again breach occupied Crimea's ‘impenetrable’ air defenses
After that, Ukraine’s Strategic Communications Directorate disclosed that Ukrainian military units had targeted a strategic installation within the Russian anti-aircraft defense system on the western coast of Crimea. According to Astra, this installation was a Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile system situated near the village of Molochne in Saky District.
Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for the Southern Defense Forces, described the attack as a “powerful stage” in undermining Russia’s military capabilities. She emphasized that targeting specific installations represents just one component of a broader strategy aimed at liberating Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula from Russian military occupation.
In an interview with the Economist, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the leader of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, stated that he considers Crimea to be the most vulnerable place for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. The occupied Ukrainian peninsula is central to Putin’s “empire restoration” project, with its “legitimacy” founded on its alleged “return” to Russia, Zaluzhnyi told the Economist.
Read also: Ukraine’s top general unveils his strategic blueprint — The Economist
Zaluzhnyi also pointed out that, in recent months, Ukraine has strategically shifted the war effort to the Crimean Peninsula, which Putin occupied in 2014, which remains critically important for the logistics of his war efforts.
“He should know it’s a part of Ukraine, and there’s a war going on there,” Zaluzhnyi said.
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