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Ukraine has set its sights on Crimea and has already achieved impressive success - NYT

Ukraine has set its sights on Crimea, a critical base for the russians. Kyiv's recent missile strike was intended to reduce russia's capabilities on the peninsula by targeting airfields, air defenses and logistics centers.

As The New York Times writes, for a long time the sky over the Black Sea was full of traces of missiles. However, almost always these missiles were russian. Now they are flying from both sides. Ukraine, armed with US-made precision missiles, is capable of reaching every corner of Crimea for the first time - and missiles are increasingly flying in that direction.

This is a new strategic push. While it is unlikely to have much impact on the front line, the Ukrainian ATACMS campaign is intended to force the Kremlin to make difficult choices about where to deploy its most valuable air defenses to protect critical military infrastructure.

At a NATO summit in Washington last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Crimea campaign would have limited effect as long as Moscow could move its bombers to air bases deep inside russia. He put pressure on the Biden administration to lift restrictions on strikes deep into the russian Federation.

Since ATACMS arrived this spring, the Ukrainian military says it has destroyed or damaged at least 15 russian long-range air defense systems in Crimea. Among them are powerful batteries S-300 and S-400.

Over the past three months, commercial satellite imagery has confirmed damage to russian radar installations, electronic warfare equipment, logistics routes and airfields.

"It's definitely fair to say that the Ukrainians have made some pretty impressive strides over the last few months."
said Justin Bronk , a senior fellow in aviation and technology at the Royal United Services Institute in London, who has studied the satellite imagery.

At the same time, he added that new high-tech weapons were generally becoming less effective as the russians adapted and Ukrainian stockpiles dwindled. Strikes in Crimea are also likely to have minimal impact on fighting at the front, especially in eastern Ukraine.

Attacks on the peninsula using Western weapons have angered russia, prompting it to warn the US of the "consequences" it would face if it provided modern weapons to Kyiv.

Partly in response to these warnings, several US bases in Europe have recently gone on high alert. Bases including the U.S. Army garrison in Stuttgart, Germany, where U.S. European Command is headquartered, were apparently concerned about potential Russian sabotage, U.S. officials said.

Crimea has deep political, symbolic and military value for Vladimir Putin, who has called it russia's "holy land" and placed it at the center of his fake narrative that Ukraine is part of russia.

Since the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, Moscow has invested heavily in expanding its military presence on the peninsula, with military installations seen in both coastal areas and mountain enclaves. The Kremlin has also poured resources into making Crimea a tourist destination.

Crimea helps support the russian occupation of southern Ukraine and is equipped with ground-based missile systems that are used to target Ukrainian cities. Penetrating russia's powerful air defenses remains a challenge, but Ukraine has been able to carry out attacks this summer designed to overwhelm and confuse air defenses.

During the massive attack on May 29, Ukraine used domestically produced air and sea drones, Western cruise missiles and ATACMS to overcome russian air defenses, Ukrainian military and intelligence services said.

The attack damaged two ferries that played a crucial role in the military supply chain between russia and Crimea.

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