Ukrainian troops recently destroyed a Russian satellite communications center established in the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine during the course of the currently unfolding war between the two countries, according to new reports.
Information on the strike was shared by the Operational Command South, a section of the Ukrainian military. “The enemy’s army lost five rockets, the ‘Legend 2’ complex of satellite communication stations and an anti-tank missile complex. In Blahodatne, the Russian invaders will no longer be able to replenish their ammunition since the warehouse has been destroyed,” as outlined by an English translation provided by Kyiv Post of Operational Command South info. The destroyed complex was also described in English as “Legenda-2.”
Elsewhere, long-term ramifications of a recent Ukrainian strike on the Saky airbase on the Crimean peninsula — which Russia annexed, seizing it from Ukraine, in 2014 — continue to develop. According to information shared by journalist Emma Burrows and attributed to a Western intelligence official, the Saky strike “put more than half of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet naval aviation combat jets out of use. The Russian system is busy seeking to allocate blame for the debacle.” The strike on the Crimean peninsula was conducted by Ukrainian special forces, according to a Ukrainian official who spoke anonymously to The Washington Post. It led to an unfolding exodus of Russian individuals from the area, which Russian leadership originally seized via military and corrupt political force.
“The real story is about (Russia’s) Black Sea Fleet. They’ve lost their flagship Moskva, they lost Snake Island, they lost half of their naval aviation package and their military headquarters was struck,” the official added, according to reporting from Burrows. Recently, the U.S. Defense Department announced the eighteenth drawdown since August 2021 of departmental equipment assets to support the Ukrainians in their fight. Included in the package, which was valued at $1 billion, were additional munitions for U.S.-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems, which have substantially expanded the ability of the Ukrainian military to conduct long-range artillery strikes and conduct them accurately. (HIMARS stands for “High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.”) Also in the new U.S. assistance package were munitions for surface-to-air missile systems alongside numerous other forms of weaponry and medical supplies, like 50 armored medical treatment vehicles.
“To meet Ukraine’s evolving battlefield requirements, the United States will continue to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with key capabilities calibrated to make a difference,” per Defense Department spokesperson Todd Breasseale. The Biden administration has provided military support and other forms of assistance to Ukraine throughout its fight against Russia — imposing, for instance, wide-ranging economic penalties on Russia and the Putin regime, with many individuals sanctioned and trade restricted.
The Russian defense minister claimed his country’s forces already destroyed six HIMARS systems, a claim for which there’s no apparent real-world evidence and that the Defense Department spokesperson said simply wasn’t true as of early this month. Although that’s just one form out of many in the modes of support offered by the U.S., the HIMARS artillery systems are powerful. “What is happening, however, is that the Ukrainians are employing with devastating accuracy and effectiveness, each of the fully accounted for precision missile systems the U.S., our Allies, and partners have provided them to defend against Russia’s brutal, criminal invasion,” the Defense Department spokesperson said.
