Ukraine says it struck Russian military supply vessels, air defense systems in occupied Crimea

Ukrainian long-range drone strikes hit Russia's military supply vessels in the city of Kerch and air defense systems in the Kerch Strait area in occupied Crimea, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said on June 26.

The strikes, which hit Project 15310 cable-laying ships the Volga and Vyatka and caused "a massive fire on board," were part of President Volodymyr Zelensky's 40-day operation to "exert pressure on Russia," according to the SBU. The agency said the Russian cargo-passenger ferry Petropavlovsk, which was 96% completed, was also struck.

"The SBU's systematic efforts to target Russian military infrastructure in the temporarily occupied Crimea deprive the enemy of the ability to use the peninsula as a logistical and military hub," the agency, among the Ukrainian branches of defense regularly conducting long-range strikes on Russian-occupied territories and deep inside Russia, said in its Telegram post.

Ukraine has intensified its long-range drone strikes on occupied Crimea in recent weeks, in a coordinated series of attacks to systematically isolate the peninsula from Russian supply lines while destroying critical infrastructure.

On June 25, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he approved a plan for Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU) to launch a 40-day operation to pressure Russia to end the war.

The SBU's report of the recent drone attacks comes as Russian-installed authorities in Crimea announce a regional state of emergency, signaling the impact of the strikes. Widespread power outages in Crimea have left approximately half of the peninsula without electricity, occupation authority spokesperson Oleg Kryuchkov reported on June 23.

"It's clear Ukraine's mid-range strike campaign is causing significant problems for Russia, as evidenced by the thousands of people fleeing the peninsula," John Hardie, deputy director of the Russia Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Kyiv Independent.

The SBU said on June 26 that the Volga and Vyatka ships, which were located at the Zatoka shipyard in Kerch, were built for the Russian Defense Ministry for underwater military reconnaissance. Worth hundreds of millions of dollars, these ships can also deploy contactless mines to target ships, undersea pipelines, cables, and other critical infrastructure, the SBU added.

The Kyiv Independent couldn't independently verify the SBU's claims. It remains difficult to independently assess the effect that the Ukrainian long-range strikes on occupied territories and inside Russia are having on the Russian combat capability on the battlefield.