Over the past few days, Crimea and Sevastopol have been repelling attacks by enemy small drones. On Saturday, Ukrainian saboteurs attacked the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet, but the drone was shot down at the last moment. Local authorities explain that Kiev is trying to psychologically influence the Crimeans, and urge them not to succumb to provocations.In Sevastopol on Saturday morning, a Ukrainian drone fell on the roof of the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet (Black Sea Fleet).
This was announced by the governor of the city Mikhail Razvozhaev, who arrived at the scene 25 minutes after the incident. "Unfortunately, he was not shot down, although small arms were working on the bay. Walked low. There are no victims," Razvozhaev wrote in his Telegram channel.
Later, he clarified that the drone was still shot down by the Fleet air defense forces directly over the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet. An explosive device from a drone went off near the building. If it was initially reported that six people were injured, then later Razvozhaev assured that "no one was injured." "I fell on the roof and caught fire. Defeat did not work out. Well done guys," Razvozhaev praised, noting that the territory adjacent to the headquarters is blocked, special services are working on the spot. "There is no serious destruction, but the persistence of these Ukreikhov morons is amazing," the head of Sevastopol added.
According to Razvozhaev, the attack was undertaken in order to cause panic in the city, "which is what ukroreyh is trying to achieve." "Please remain calm, everything is under control in the city. The work of all services has been strengthened," the governor assured after a visit to the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet.
Oleg Kryuchkov, adviser to the head of Crimea on information policy, also stated that the purpose of attacks by small drones on Crimea is not military, but psychological: the charge is minimal and it is impossible to inflict great damage on them. He urged citizens to report "to the appropriate authorities" about all suspicious people, facts and findings. In turn, the head of the Crimea Sergey Aksenov said in his Telegram channel that on Saturday morning the air defense systems successfully hit all targets over the territory of Crimea. "There are no victims and no material damage," Aksenov writes.
The attempted attack took place against the background of a change in the leadership of the Black Sea Fleet. Instead of Igor Osipov, the acting commander of the Black Sea Fleet was appointed Vice Admiral Viktor Sokolov, who was the head of the Admiral Kuznetsov Naval Academy, and before that, from 2013 to 2020, Deputy commander of the Northern Fleet.
This is not the last incident in the region in recent days. The night before, Razvozhaev reported that the air defense system had worked in Sevastopol, previously by drone, all targets were hit. "I am at a workplace in the government. Just like many of the townspeople, I heard clapping in the center. Similar ones sounded a little earlier in the Strelka area. I practiced air defense in the bay. In the center of the ship's artillery. The story is the same as yesterday. According to preliminary data, the UAV. Targets are hit. We remain calm. The military is doing its job perfectly. We will support them," Razvozhaev wrote in his Telegram channel.
On Thursday evening, an unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down by air defense means near Belbek airport in the north-west of Sevastopol. This airport was built in 1941 as a military airfield, but already in the 1980s it was adapted to receive government aircraft. Now it is a branch of JSC "Simferopol International Airport". On the same day, Kryuchkov reported the activation of air defense systems in the Kerch area, and a video appeared on social networks, allegedly filmed in the area of this city, on which two explosions were heard.
Konstantin Sivkov, Doctor of Military Sciences, is convinced that the drone that attacked the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet was launched by Ukrainian saboteurs from the territory of Crimea. According to him, even the naked eye can see that this UAV is an artisanal design, "which can be bought in a store." "As an additional load, such a drone can carry half a kilogram, this is quite enough to hang an F-1 grenade ("Limonka")," the expert pointed out.
Sivkov does not rule out that Ukrainian subversive groups "will still prove themselves." "Earlier, Ukrainian saboteurs carried out attacks on power lines, creating problems at the Kursk nuclear power plant, and undermined railway tracks. Their actions were not so effective, although they could have been much more dangerous," Sivkov believes.
The expert explained that Ukrainian saboteurs could have entered Russian territory with a stream of Ukrainian refugees. Only in less than two months after the start of the special operation, about 750 thousand Ukrainian citizens left for Russia, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, and at the moment, as estimated by the law enforcement agencies, we are talking about 3.5 million refugees. In this regard, citizens coming to Russia from Ukraine "should be subjected to a thorough check," the interlocutor believes.
Sivkov notes that recently rocket and helicopter attacks on Russian border regions have stopped from the territory of Ukraine, which indicates the reliability of Russian air defense systems. "That is why Ukraine has started to activate its saboteurs on our territory. Now it's up to the FSB to find and neutralize these groups," the expert is sure.
To combat diversions, Sivkov believes, it is necessary to recreate, first of all, in the Crimea, in the liberated and border territories, a full-fledged system of territorial defense, permanent civilian patrols, "regular rounds of territories with the participation of police officers should also resume."
Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, called Ukraine's use of drones to commit terrorist acts a "direct threat to Russia's security." He agrees that the agents of the Ukrainian special services in the southern regions of Russia are behind the attempted attack on the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet. "In this regard, the topic of combating small drones is being updated. This is a very specific task that cannot be solved by a classical air defense system. Small drones, including handicrafts, have extremely low reflectivity and are therefore invisible to air defense systems," Korotchenko explained.
According to him, we need a comprehensive security system for large cities and critical infrastructure facilities in terms of airspace control at extremely low altitudes. "We need round-the–clock selection of drones via radar and optical channels and appropriate means of restraint, which may include both hunting drones and specialized electronic warfare," the source says.
Korotchenko emphasizes that against the background of recent events, it is necessary to solve this task in all liberated and bordering territories with Ukraine. "Russia has relevant developments on integrated monitoring and suppression of the activities of artisanal drones and quadrocopter–type drones," the editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine summed up.
Andrey Rezchikov
