On 23 August, HUR released a video of a Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system in Olenivka, Crimea, 120 kilometres (75 mi) south of Kherson, being struck by Ukrainian missiles, resulting in its total destruction and the deaths of several Russian military personnel in the vicinity. The loss of the S-400 system greatly depreciated Russia's ability to counteract Ukrainian missiles strikes in Crimea.[9]
Attack
At noon on 22 September 2023, two or more Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles, supplied by France and/or the UK,[1][10][11][12] struck the headquarters of the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet. The event was filmed[13] and widely shared on social media, and confirmed by Russian installed governor Mikhail Razvozhayev. Local officials reported that the Ukrainian missile strike consisted of six missiles and that Russian air defense shot down five of them,[14][15] but that one was able to hit the headquarters.
Russian sources initially reported that only one soldier was unaccounted for, and nobody was injured.[16] In contrast, Ukraine’s HUR Chief Kyrylo Budanov reported, in an interview with Voice of America the day after the attack, that the strike killed "at least nine people" and that 16 were injured, including high-ranking officers.[17] He also reported that, "Among the wounded is the commander of the group [in the Zaporizhia direction], Colonel General Alexander Romanchuk, in very serious condition. The Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Oleg Tsekov, is unconscious. The number of casual military servicemen who are not employees of the headquarters is still being determined." RFE/RL wrote that "Romanchuk commands frontline forces defending Russian-occupied parts of southeastern Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya region."[18][19]
Early reports circulated online that Admiral Viktor Sokolov, commander of the Black Sea Fleet, was killed in the strike,[6][20][21][22] but such claims were denied by the Russian government, which showed video footage of Sokolov alive and well, although the time and date the video was filmed is unknown.[23][24][25] The videos were later dated to prior to the attack, with the first being an awarding of soccer medals on 20 September and the second video references awarding of the 810th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade with the Medal of Ushakov, which publicly available information indicates happened on 29 August 2023.[26] However, the medals ceremony may have been deliberately restaged in an effort to prove Sokolov was alive.[27]
As videos of the strike circulated on Russian social media the following day, TASS increased the reported number of injured to six but reiterated that nobody was killed and that the situation was under control. Razvozhayev reported that the fire raging through the headquarters was contained as of 23 September.[28]
On 25 September, the Special Operations Forces Command of Ukraine's Armed Forces said that 34 Russian officers, including Sokolov, were killed and 105 soldiers injured in the attack.[29]
Ukrainian partisan group Atesh later claimed that they provided information used to plan the attack. They reportedly gained leaked information about the Black Sea Fleet by bribing Russian officers disgruntled by missed salary payments.[30]
Aftermath
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak stated that strikes will continue until Crimea is "demilitarized and liberated", while the secretary of National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, said there were two options for the future of Russia's Black Sea Fleet: voluntary or forced "self-neutralization".[31] Danilov went so far as to say that the Black Sea Fleet could be "sliced up like a salami" at a later date.[6]
Russian-installed authorities reported another strike was thwarted near Bakhchysarai and that Crimea's internet was under an "unprecedented cyberattack."[31]
Another strike took place on Sevastopol less than 24 hours after the first.[32][33][34] Russian newspaper Astra reported that the strike hit the 758th Center for Black Sea Fleet Logistics and Technical Support.[35]
On 25 September 2023, Russian authorities have announced that they would demolish the existing headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet.[36]
On 29 September, Ukrainian media reported that, following the funeral reception for an officer who was killed in the attack, seven guests suffered food poisoning, two of them fatally.[37]
