War pushed into spotlight
Attack raises questions about Kremlin’s response
In the main, most Russians appear to be unaware of the true horrors of the Ukraine conflict. A combination of a pliant Russian media happy to peddle Kremlin-inspired propaganda and the Putin regime’s willingness to tell barefaced lies about the setbacks it has suffered seems to have left the majority of Russians broadly supportive of what is still termed a “special military operation”.
The sinking of the Russian warship the Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet, in April is a case in point. While many Russians are inclined to believe the Kremlin’s claim that its demise was caused by an onboard munitions explosion, all the evidence points to two Neptune anti-ship missiles fired by Ukrainian forces causing the loss of the largest Russian warship since World War II.
The Kremlin is even trying to conceal the enormity of Russia’s combat losses during the six month-long conflict.
According to the latest Western intelligence estimates, the Russians have lost about half of the 150,000 combat force, killed or injured, originally sent to “liberate” Ukraine.
Moscow has gone to extreme lengths to hide the exact number, with reports of mobile crematorium units being used to dispose of its fatalities.
This week’s attack on a major Russian military air base in Crimea, which was witnessed by crowds of holidaymakers sunning themselves at a nearby beach resort, will therefore have provided an unwelcome reminder of the ferocity of the conflict Vladimir Putin has initiated against Ukraine.
Large plumes of smoke were clearly visible to alarmed Russians as a series of explosions rocked the air base, destroying a significant number of Russian warplanes.
While the initial indications were that the attack against the Novofedorivka air base near the Black Sea resort of Saki involved a
number of long-range missiles, it may in fact have been carried out by Ukrainian special forces operating within Russian-controlled territory.
The air base is located about 200km inside occupied Crimea, and is a particularly sensitive target for the Russian military.
It is where Russian pilots are trained to fly from aircraft carriers, even if Moscow’s sole carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, has been tied up in Murmansk since 2017 undergoing extensive repairs.
The Crimean attack will give a significant morale boost to Ukrainian forces. They have been targeting a number of critical Russian military and ammunition bases ahead of an expected assault to recapture the strategically important city of
Kherson on the Dnipro River, a key gateway to the Crimean peninsula.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking shortly after details of the attack emerged, indicated that it was Kyiv’s ultimate goal to retake the peninsula.
The attack also raises questions about how the Kremlin might respond. Crimea holds a special place in Putin’s heart, which is why he risked international opprobrium to annex the territory in 2014. Dmitry Medvedev, the former president and a close ally of Putin, promised to unleash “Judgment Day” if Ukraine ever attacked Crimea.
The Russians can still fire cruise missiles indiscriminately at Ukrainian targets, but their ability to make tangible gains becomes more difficult by the day. — Telegraph Group Ltd