On August 18, 2022, an ammunition depot in Belgorod Region exploded.
via social media
Russian and Russian-occupied Ukraine exploded Thursday night as Ukrainian troops escalated. A weeks-long, deep strike on Russian logistics and airports.
Explosion targeting ammunition depots, airfields and other facilities, It could disrupt supply lines and air operations and further isolate Russian forces in Ukraine — especially in the south, where Kyiv has been trying to organize a counteroffensive aimed at liberating the port of Kherson from Russian occupiers.
The strike begins at sunset. An explosion occurred at an ammunition depot in Timonovo, Belgorod state, Russia, 20 miles from Ukraine’s northeastern border. A fire also broke out at Stariosskol Airport in Belgorod.
At the same time, an explosion occurred in Novi Kahovka, on the banks of the Dnieper River, 30 miles east of Kherson. It was the second time in 24 hours that Ukrainians had attacked Russian installations in the town.
Around the same time, Russian air defenses reportedly opened fire near Belbek airfield in western Crimea and near the Kerch Strait on the east side of the peninsula.
It is not entirely clear that all the explosions were the result of the Ukrainian attack, but the location of the fire is consistent with the ongoing deep strike operation in Kyiv. The campaign focuses on shaping the battlefield in southern Ukraine, while also logging Russian supply centers and airfields around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s most vulnerable free city, just off the northeastern border with Russia. Only 25 miles away.
The southern strike coincides with the Ukrainian counteroffensive on the ground. Back in May, the Ukrainian battalion forcibly crossed the Inkhurets River, a natural line of defense that for months had separated the Russians and Ukrainians north of Kherson.
But the Ukrainians apparently did not far beyond the river station. The Russian 49th Combined Armed Army and its dozen or so battalions stood between the counter-attackers and Kherson. In July and August, more Russian battalions arrived as the Kremlin realized the danger of its southern positions.
, missile crews and drone operators launched coordinated strikes against the 49th CAA’s supply lines and air bases that directly supported Confederate forces.
Ukrainian artillery – probably 227mm rockets from High – mobile artillery rocket systems or 155mm guns firing Excalibur GPS-guided shells – in late July and early August, Temporarily destroyed all three bridges near Kherson that spanned the Dnieper and Inhulet.
Two weeks later, in mid-August, the Ukrainians added the airport to their list of targets. The August 9 attack on Saki airbase in Crimea likely destroyed dozens of Su-24 and Su-30 fighter jets in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. That raid had the hallmarks of a ballistic missile attack. Namely, wide and deep craters.
But the distance between Saki and the front— — 120 miles — points to a new type of Ukrainian missile. The Tochka ballistic missiles that make up the bulk of the Ukrainian army’s long-range rocket stockpile typically travel no more than about 70 miles.
As Russia expanded its war on Ukraine in late February, Kyiv was developing several new long-range rocket types. It’s possible that some of these new rockets have ended up in service.
Commandos and partisans are reportedly responsible for some of the deep strikes in Ukraine. Clearly, drones take the balance. A Ukrainian drone apparently blew up an ammunition depot at a Russian airfield near Hvardiiske in Crimea on Tuesday.
While both the Ukrainian Air Force and Navy use Turkish-made TB-2 armed drones, Kyvi’s choice of robotic weapons appears to be custom “suicide” drones that can tow high-explosive drones medicine. Their operators either fly them into the target or land them on the target before detonating the payload .
Russians are acutely aware of this threat. The intense anti-aircraft fire on Thursday night was proof.
The reasons for Ukraine’s determination to strike Russian supply lines and air bases are obvious. Russia suffered heavy losses in six months of fighting, but still has a numerical advantage over Ukraine in infantry, tanks, artillery and warplanes.
Ukrainians cannot expect to be with Russia Company of men, battalion to battalion, brigade to brigade – at least when Russian formations are fully supported and supplied.
But if the Ukrainians were able to cut off supplies and air support from the 49th CAA and other Russian armies, they could starve and weaken those units before launched a large-scale ground attack.
On Thursday night, strangulation attempts became tighter as the Russian base exploded and burned.
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