Russia claims 8 missiles downed over occupied Crimea, 1 injured

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Oct. 30 that its forces shot down eight Storm Shadow missiles allegedly launched by Ukraine at Russian-occupied Crimea. Kyiv hasn’t commented on the incident.

Mikhail Razvozhaev, the head of Sevastopol's illegal Russian occupation government, said air defenses shot down two aerial targets over the city, and that debris injured a 57-year-old man near a local railway.

Razvozhaev claimed that the debris fell in multiple places in Sevastopol, including on households and beaches, but there were no serious damages to buildings and infrastructure. He didn’t specify what weapons were purportedly downed over the city.

Uncertain Triumph: Ukraine picks apart Russia’s best air defenses in Crimea

The past month has not been kind to Russia’s forces in occupied Crimea. In a span of weeks, a ship, a submarine, and multiple air defense systems were destroyed. Ukraine said these targets included Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, optimistically named the Triumph. Purported videos of…

The Kyiv IndependentIgor Kossov

Local pro-Ukrainian Telegram channel Crimean Wind reported several explosions in Sevastopol at around 12 p.m. local time. Residents confirmed the information on the explosions to the Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne.

Russian forces reportedly deployed a smoke screen over Sevastopol Bay at the time of the attack. After it disappeared, pillars of smoke appeared over a local sea port and the Gollandiya district, which hosts many military facilities, according to Crimean Wind.

The Kyiv Independent couldn’t immediately verify these claims.

Increased attacks on Crimea disrupt Russian logistics, attempt to derail its southern defenses

Since mid-July, drones and missiles have regularly targeted Russian military depots and infrastructure in occupied Crimea. Russian proxies reported that the Chonhar Bridge, serving as Russia’s fastest rail route from occupied Crimea to the southern front line, was allegedly hit multiple times on Au…

The Kyiv IndependentAlexander Khrebet

Explosions also occurred in Saky on Crimea’s western coast, followed by electricity cut-offs in the city, Suspilne Crimea wrote, citing residents.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian military's Center for Strategic Communications confirmed that Ukrainian forces had struck a strategic air defense facility on the western coast of Crimea overnight on Oct. 30.

Starting in the summer of 2023, there have been a series of increasingly destructive attacks on Russian military facilities on the occupied peninsula.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 24 that recent Ukrainian attacks have denied the Russian fleet safe haven and secure maritime corridors in the western part of the Black Sea as Kyiv's troops look to squeeze Russian-installed forces out of Crimea.