Russian missiles blown up in Crimea

Ever since last February’s invasion, Russia has used Crimea – annexed in 2014 – as a base for its military. But that base is now under regular attack. Last night, cruise missiles being transported from Crimea were blown up by drones. The attack was in Dzhankoi, a junction just north of Crimea used by Russia to supply troops in the mainland. The attack exposes not just the vulnerability of Putin’s military (the $6m-a-throw Kalibr missiles should not be vulnerable to drone attack) but the quality of Ukraine’s intelligence. It appears that someone on the inside leaked information about moving the missiles.

These missiles – with a 1,500-mile range – have been used to hit Ukrainian critical infrastructure. Russia is anyway understood to be running low on supplies. Ukrainian intelligence says Russia has now used 93 per cent of its Kalibr missile stockpile and just has a few left, after a long campaign to deny power to Ukraine. The attack exposed the gaps in Russian air defence: being able to stop drones from bombing your missiles should not be difficult for a well-run army. Moscow’s claims that the drones attacked civilian facilities are contradicted by video footage of large blasts occurring near the railway station.

Telegram channel ASTRA, which claimed to be a project of independent Russian journalists, reported that railway junctions (including the locomotive depot, the station’s security building and warehouses) were damaged in the strikes. As is often the case in strikes on Crimea, Kyiv has not taken responsibility simply saying that mysterious blasts ‘continue the process of Russia’s demilitarisation and prepare the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea for liberation’.

Ukrainian intelligence is known for talking in riddles on such occasions, to humiliate Putin. Last October, an explosive-filled truck blew up on the 12-mile-long Kerch bridge connecting Crimea with Russia just after Putin celebrated his 70th birthday. Ukraine responded only with a taunting tweet. That did enough damage to the road bridge to make it unusable by heavy military supplies for some time. Yesterday’s explosions in Dzhankoi come as Xi Jinping is in Moscow and may be intended as a signal to China to highlight the Kremlin’s weak defence and poor military strategy. Drone strikes in Crimea are now regular, showing that Russian forces are not safe in any part of Ukraine.