Ukraine’s navy intelligence company reported what gave the impression to be a brazen assault late Monday on Russian cruise missiles being transported by practice within the occupied and illegally annexed Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula.

The area’s Russian-appointed governor reported an incident within the space of the identical Crimean city, Dzhankoi within the northern a part of the peninsula, although he didn’t point out cruise missiles as an assault goal.

Not one of the studies might be independently verified.

A imprecise assertion by the Ukrainian navy company, posted on its web site, mentioned a number of Kalibr cruise missiles have been destroyed by an explosion, with out explicitly saying Ukraine was accountable or what weapon had been used. It mentioned the missiles have been being carried by rail and have been destined for submarine launch.

The company implied the Kyiv authorities was accountable by saying the explosion destroying the missiles continues “the method of Russia’s demilitarization and prepares the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea for de-occupation.”

In a pre-cursor to final 12 months’s full invasion of Ukraine, Russia in 2014 seized Crimea, then annexed the peninsula in a transfer that many nations condemned as unlawful. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy has vowed to re-capture all of the Ukrainian land Russia now occupies, together with Crimea.

A doable indication of a Ukrainian assault got here from the Russian-appointed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov. He mentioned on social media that anti-aircraft weapons have been fired within the neighborhood of Dzhankoi, the place Ukraine’s intelligence company mentioned the cruise missiles have been destroyed.

0:25
Putin says Crimea bridge explosion was ‘terrorist act,’ deliberate by Ukraine

Aksenov mentioned falling particles injured one individual and broken a house and a retailer. His report didn’t point out that cruise missiles have been hit, specify why the anti-aircraft weapons have been fired or whether or not the harm and injury have been brought on by particles from the anti-aircraft weapons or from an object that was shot down.

Unconfirmed social media studies claimed Russia’s anti-aircraft defenses shot down drones.

All through the present warfare, studies have surfaced of assaults on Russian navy bases, assassinations and different targets in Crimea, with Ukraine hardly ever, if ever, explicitly claiming accountability however welcoming such incidents.

These incidents in Crimea and different areas of Russia removed from the warfare’s entrance strains have uncovered main weaknesses in Russia’s defenses, and embarrassed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who reportedly believed the invasion can be fast and simple.

&copy 2023 The Canadian Press