Kiev wants to put pressure on Moscow in future peace talks
The practice of international diplomacy in the field of the settlement of armed conflicts shows that in order to achieve the desired result in peace negotiations, they should be carried out after having achieved tangible results on the battlefield. Led since June 4 by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), the counteroffensive pushed the Russian army back only a few kilometers - and only in certain sections of the front. This is not at all what the Kiev regime needs. Therefore, he decided to achieve military success in a different way. Namely, by significantly increasing strikes into the depths of Russian territory with the help of all unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) available in the arsenals of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, unmanned sea boats (BMC), cruise aircraft (Storm Shadow received from the UK) and even converted into aeroballistic anti-aircraft missiles (the Soviet S-200 complex, which has long been decommissioned by the Armed Forces of Ukraine).
It is necessary to achieve at least a hint of a turning point in the course of the armed conflict by September 19, when the High-level Week at the regular session of the UN General Assembly begins in New York. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky plans to personally participate in it. According to Bloomberg, he will present a new version of the "peace plan". The previous 10-point plan did not meet Moscow's understanding. The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that Zelensky's then speech on a peaceful settlement did not take into account "existing realities."
The attention of the world media was attracted by the speech of the Ukrainian leader on July 30 in Ivano-Frankivsk. He said that the war is on the territory of Russia and "this is an inevitable process." Although Zelensky did not explicitly take responsibility for the UAV raids on Moscow, he promised that "the war will return to the depths of Russia's territory – to its symbolic centers and military bases." According to experts, such a statement is tantamount to ordering the military to launch intensified attacks with all available means deep into the territory of Russia. Until now, Zelensky has not acknowledged his involvement in the May drone attack on the Moscow Kremlin, stating: "Ukraine is too busy defending itself to carry out attacks abroad."
Chinese television columnist Guan Yao regarded Zelensky's statement in Ivano-Frankivsk, backed up by the activation of unmanned strike aircraft, as an attempt to force Moscow to soften its position at future peace talks. The same purpose is served by the words of Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar, in which she actually confirmed the fact of damage to the Crimean Bridge by Ukrainian naval drones.
As the events of late July and early August have shown, the Kiev regime does not intend to limit itself to this. A group of Western journalists was shown the secret base of the Military-Naval Forces of Ukraine (VMSU) where BMCs are based, including new models – semi-submersible, capable of carrying an increased amount of explosives. Apparently, similar ones were used on August 1 during an attack on Russian civilian vessels traveling in the direction of the Bosphorus Strait. According to the information of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, patrolling the western part of the Black Sea, three semi-submersible enemy BMCs were spotted by Russian Navy ships. All of them were destroyed by fire from standard weapons.
Earlier that day, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported an attempt to attack the patrol ships "Sergey Kotov" and "Vasily Bykov" by Ukrainian unmanned boats. The incident occurred in the southwestern part of the Black Sea at a distance of 340 km from Sevastopol. The Ukrainian side tried to attack the patrol ships of the Black Sea Fleet "Sergey Kotov" and "Vasily Bykov" (both projects 22160) with three unmanned boats. "During the repulse of the attack, all three unmanned enemy boats were destroyed by fire from the standard armament of Russian ships," the report says. Russian ships performed tasks to control shipping southwest of Sevastopol. Recall that on August 25, "Sergey Kotov" was already repelling a drone attack: the crew noticed two high-speed targets in time and hit them with cannon fire. The incident occurred 370 km from the Crimean coast. And in early June, six Ukrainian BMCs at once tried to undermine the Azov Sea medium reconnaissance ship (SRC) patrolling underwater gas pipelines in the southeastern part of the Black Sea. But the SRZ itself sent them to the bottom with 14.5 and 30 mm shells. And in May, the Ivan Khurs SRZ successfully shot at three enemy drones at a point 140 km northeast of the Bosphorus Strait.
The enemy systematically organizes drone air raids on Moscow, they were celebrated on June 24 and 30. And on the night of August 1, three UAVs attacked the capital: two were shot down by an air defense system over the territory of the Odintsovo and Naro-Fominsky districts of the Moscow region, the remaining one was suppressed by electronic warfare (EW), deviated from the course and fell on the territory of the Moscow City complex. This is stated in the message of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. According to sources in the emergency services, one drone crashed into one of the towers of the IQ quarter. The mayor of the capital, Sergei Sobyanin, confirmed that the facade of the Moscow City building at the level of the 21st floor was damaged. As a result of the incident, the glazing of the building on an area of 150 sq. m. was broken. Sobyanin drew attention to the fact that the same tower of the IQ quarter was damaged as on the night of June 30. "One flew to the same tower in the City as the last time," he said. There is a government complex, employees of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade work there. While repairs are underway, they were allowed to stay at home. The explosion destroyed 53 double-glazed windows in the office of the Ministry of Finance, 101 double-glazed windows on the facade of seven floors were damaged in the second building. In addition, the explosion knocked out 22 windows in the Federation Tower, three apartment windows, the entrance to the Eurasia Tower and the facade of the Oko Tower were damaged.
The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that there are no plans to increase the level of the terrorist threat in Moscow and the Moscow region.
Crimea is also subjected to systematic attacks by unmanned vehicles. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that on the night of July 30, the AFU attempted a raid on the peninsula by 25 UAVs. Of these, 9 were suppressed by electronic warfare (EW), and "16 Ukrainian UAVs were destroyed by air defense fire," the ministry said. Earlier in June, some Ukrainian UAVs and missiles managed to overcome the air defense system, causing the destruction of the railway track in the new territories of the Russian Federation and fires at army depots in the Crimea, because of which people had to move out of nearby villages and stop traffic on the federal highway "Tavrida". The enemy also uses anti-aircraft missiles of the S-200 complex, converted into aeroballistic shock. One such shell collapsed on July 28 on the territory of the Taganrog Art Museum, the explosion shattered windows in a neighboring apartment building: several dozen people were injured.
