Ukraine claims attacks on Russian submarine, air base | DW News

Ukraine claims attacks on Russian submarine, air base | DW News

well the Ukrainian military says it has sunk a Russian submarine during an attack on the port of Savas sasti pole in Russian occupied Crimea keev says it also damaged an advanced air defense system Ukraine confirmed it attacked the moros airbase inside Russia hitting ammunition stored there Russia’s defense Ministry said that the area was attacked by 55 drones 36 of which were destroyed verified video shows huge explosions at the Airfield more than 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border this comes as Russian troops have made sustained gains in the Eastern Ukrainian region of danet Ukrainian President Vladimir zalinski hailed the operations in an address on Saturday evening for more let’s today our gratitude goes out to each of our Warriors and all those who work in our defense industry for striking Russian airfields oil refineries and Logistics it’s most effective when the consequences of the Russian war are brought back home to Russia and when the enemy has no place of Peace in the occupied territories of our country for more let’s go to Christopher moris security expert at the University of Portsmouth Christopher uh recent Ukrainian military operations have targeted key Russian assets can you explain the significance of these targets and how they fit into ke’s broader military strategy at the moment I would stress that the Ukrainian strategy is very much to hold the line these strikes that are taking place are very much in support of that so what Ukraine has been able to do is in many ways truly remarkable so we’re seeing enhanced strikes against key Russian installations particularly airfields which is having the effect of effectively pushing back the Russian Air Force that’s putting so much pressure on the front lines at the moment in addition to this we’re seeing key attacks on oil installations which is bringing the fight to the Russian economy and we even have news of a drone strike over Moscow today uh critically as well you can examine what’s happening in Crimea the pressure that the ukrainians have been able to bring to bear using drones on the Black Sea fleet has been really significant and again it’s making the occupation of Crimea a truly costly Endeavor costly indeed you Ukrainian President Vladimir zalinski has emphasized the importance of making sure Russia actually feels the consequences of this war what are the potential risks and benefits of Ukraine’s strategy to strike within Russian territory especially in terms of international support well initially you’ve got to admit that the Optics of attacking within Russian Russian territory it’s going to shift the view of the how the engagement is progressing in many ways so striking and the risk of striking civilians is certainly a significant consideration when it comes to you know this perhaps eroding International support however I would be slightly more skeptical now one of the iron laws I suppose of armed conflict is reciprocity now if you consider the strikes that Russia has been you know ardly pursuing within Ukraine then I would stress that Ukraine has quite a lot of space to operate before any kind of international kind of pressure was to fall upon them in your view could the recent successful attacks on Russian air defense systems and Naval assets change the balance of power in the Black Sea region whilst again these operations are fundamentally positive and they’re definitely demonstrating that Ukraine is still in the fight fundamentally it’s not going to alter the texture of the conflict now it’s making things immensely costly for Russia to continue to operate and it is showing that Russia is taking steps to kind of preserve its high value assets pulling back its fleets and removing its Air Force further and further into Russia’s interior but at the end of the day Russia seems content to sacrifice massive amounts of resources and Manpower in this war and unless that fundamentally changes then we’re not going to see a shift in the fundamental nature of the the conflict Christopher R Ukraine um has been targeting Russian assets but Moscow keeps making gains in the danet region just moments ago uh Russia confirmed it has captured a village in eastern Ukraine what might be the next steps for both sides in this conflict again uh to begin with the Ukrainian side unfortunately at the moment there’s very little they can do other than hold the line now again they are they’re doing very well at this but fundamentally they do not have the resources to mount offensive or retake territory I will stress that under incredibly difficult circumstances what they’re achieving is REM able like they are being pushed back but they have fundamentally there’s not been a breakthrough they’re being slowly forced back which again the key objective at the moment is to hold the line in terms of what Russia is hoping to achieve it looks like they’re trying to consolidate power within the D reason region seege more territory and ultimately they’re going to be eyeing you know Ukrainian logistical hubs that are in close proximity to the front lines at the moment now if they could seize a number of key locations within Ukraine they would have a critical advantage got it that’s Christopher Moore security expert at the University of Portsmouth many thanks to you sir pleasure thank you so much I’d like to bring in military analyst Frank ledwich Frank welcome we have no immediate comment from Russia here on Ukraine’s claim to have sunk one of its submarines in sasto but uh could you tell us what impact this could have on Russia’s Naval capabilities in the Black Sea region well good morning there perhaps I can offer a little bit of context the uh ukrainians said that they had damaged this submarine last September confirmed by the British who said it had sustained catastrophic damage took them six months to repair it and I think in June it was in the harbor on initial tests whether it’s been sunk this time in Harbor or or alongside we don’t know but the uh the answer to your question is directly it’ll have no impact on the war as it is since the submarine which is a very effective submarine very modern kilo class it’s effectively been taken out of the line we’ll see when we get some confirmation from satellite photos the extent of the damage now but uh it it wasn’t in it wasn’t functioning before and I suspect it won’t be functioning now for quite some time and I should say one thing its only role is is to launch cruise missiles in Blacky now Ukraine here also having claimed uh claiming to have damaged an S400 air defense system in Crimea can you tell us a little bit more about that kind of air defense are we talking about here well tell essentially if you can think about the Patriot which is a medium to longrange very effective anti-aircraft and anti-missile system it’s very very similar to that in terms of its intention and effect it’s high-end it’s the most modern and effective system that the Russians have widely deployed on the other hand though they do have hundreds of these launchers and I supect what will happen is that whether or not this was destroyed it’ll be taken out and replaced very quickly by another launcher just as the ukrainians do when Patriot or other systems are damaged or destroyed by by the Russians but it has to be said that what it demonstrates this is that the much vaunted impenetrable Russian air defense system is anything but impenetrable so in that sense would you say that this is more symbolic than having an actual impact on Russia’s capabilities yeah and it’s all part of an attritional approach it’s not the first time the ukrainians have damaged or destroyed s 400 or many other systems the significance of this is that is is the modernity of the system like I said it’s very much like the Patriots but on the other hand the Russians have hundreds of them and they’ll simply stick another one into the line now I’d like to just get an update on the situation at the front lines uh Frank despite Ukraine’s recent strikes here Russian forces have been making gains in the detet region how would you assess the current uh balance of power on the Eastern Front what factors are contributing to Russia’s advances there well the centr of gravity of this war is Manpower and again that word attrition comes in so what we’re not seeing and I don’t think what we will see are long long range Russian breakthroughs and ranging behind Ukrainian lines the Russians aren’t capable of doing that but what they are capable of doing is gradual attrition gradual rolling back of the ukrainians there’s one area it’s bizarrely but nonetheless it’s a significant area called New York at the moment where there’s a lot of fighting going on where the Russians are closing as Salient that’s to say surrounding Ukrainian forces which I think will come quite significant over the next week that’s in the South not far from adiva uh where the Russians are driving at psk and I think we’re going to hear a lot more of that word or that town procr over the next couple of months so Russian gains are steady significant and the kind of thing you would expect to see in this positional Warfare uh that we’ve been having now over the last year and a half or so well thank you so much for that an analysis and for the Outlook that is a military analyst Frank LED we appreciate your time as always thank you CLA

The Ukrainian military says it sank a Russian submarine during an attack on the port of Sevastopol in Russian occupied Crimea. Kyiv says it also damaged an advanced air-defense system.
Ukraine also says it attacked an airbase inside Russia, hitting ammunition stored there. Verified video shows huge explosions at the Morozovsk airbase, more than a hundred kilometers from the Ukrainian border. This comes as Russian troops have made sustained gains in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk.

00:00 Ukraine attacks inside Russia
01:20 DW speaks with Christopher Morris, security expert at the University of Portsmouth
05:40 DW speaks with military analyst Frank Ledwidge in Oxford

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