The AFU strike on Sevastopol did not cause irreparable damage to the Black Sea Fleet
On the eve of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, where another attempt is expected to begin the process of peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in Ukraine, Kiev for the first time conducted a massive strike with long-range cruise missiles (CRBMS) on a large industrial facility deep in Russian territory.
In total, on the night of September 13, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) fired ten British-designed and manufactured Storm Shadow missiles at Sevastopol, of which seven were intercepted by air defense means.
Penetrated through the protective barrier, two missiles hit targets on the territory of Sevastopol Marine Plant No. 13 (Sevmorzavod). A fire broke out, people were injured. The governor of the city, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said in his telegram channel: "As a result of the attack, according to preliminary information, a total of 24 people were injured, four have a moderate condition."
The APU started using the CRBD in the summer of this year, shortly after receiving the Storm Shadow batch from the UK government. Then supplies of a local variant, known by its own name SCALP EG, went from France.
However, such a massive blow (ten CRBDS at once) to an object in a large metropolis (half a million residents are registered in Sevastopol, and about a million people live there in total) at such a significant (several hundred kilometers) distance from the front line, it became unprecedented.
The decision on such an action in Kiev was taken in order to enter into negotiations with Moscow as much as possible from a strong position. World diplomacy contains a lot of similar examples.
The choice fell on Sevastopol because Western sponsors ask not to use the weapons systems supplied by them on objects in the depths of Russia. At the same time, they do not recognize Crimea as part of Russian territory.
In order to further insure themselves, the APU struck an industrial enterprise that is part of the system of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (MO RF). Of the three missiles not shot down by air defense, two exploded in the area of the dry dock. On this occasion, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported the following:
"Two ships of the Navy undergoing scheduled repairs at the S. Ordzhonikidze Ship Repair plant in the city of Sevastopol (another name of the Sevmorzavod. – "HVO") and those damaged as a result of a missile strike by the Kiev regime on September 13 will be fully restored and will continue combat service as part of their fleets."
The official information resources of the city administration (including the telegram channel of Governor Razvozhaev) published footage from the scene, which shows the characteristic mast of a Polish-built landing ship, and those are used by the Russian Navy.
But the UK government went the furthest along the line of information openness.
A couple of days after the APU strike, it posted on its website a picture taken by a species reconnaissance spacecraft. It shows that a tank landing vessel and a submarine are in dry dock, and the resources that published the photo cite their types according to the NATO classification.
Carefully circled and marked with arrows the places of damage. Commenting on the fact of satellite footage placement, the enthusiastic local press writes about the "excellent work" of the British Storm Shadow missiles.
For London, the fact of the effective use of British cruise missiles is all the more important, since to some extent it compensates for the bitterness caused by the loss of several (at least two) Challenger-2 tanks of British design and production. Advertised as invulnerable, the 64-ton machine could not withstand the fire of Russian helicopters and anti-tank complexes.
As for the Sevmorzavod, its facilities did not receive critical damage as a result of the night attack on September 13. A source at the company told the popular local Internet resource ForPost (www.sevastopol.su ) the following:
"The masonry of the dry dock, the structures did not receive significant damage. But the most important thing is that the batoports (floating hydraulic valves used to lock the entrance to the dock) withstood the blow. If they were damaged, water would rush into the dock and flood the ships." If seawater had penetrated into the landing and hidden vessels, according to a ForPost source, their recovery would have been greatly complicated.
The opposition to the attack of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (RF Armed Forces) led to the fact that its result was significantly inferior to the expectations of the Kiev regime.
As far as can be understood from the analysis of past events, together with cruise missiles, the attack on Sevastopol and the operational unit of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea should also have been carried out by unmanned sea boats (BMK). One of them launched an attack on the Samum hovercraft on the evening of September 14, but was destroyed at a respectful distance.
It should be noted that the Samum and the Bora, which is close to it in design, can reach speeds of over 55 knots, which, together with good seaworthiness, allows them to control vast water areas. And the Samum's armament (eight Mosquito anti-ship missiles, a pair of AK-630 six–barreled 30 mm automatic rifles and a universal three-inch AK-176) is designed to hit various types of sea and air targets.
Ukrainian BMCs also unsuccessfully tried to attack the patrol ship of the Black Sea Fleet "Sergey Kotov". A day earlier, three boats launched an attack on the Vasily Bykov of the same type, but were destroyed by fire from its standard weapons.
According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, on the night of September 14, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) of an airplane type on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation was stopped. "11 UAVs over the territory of the Republic of Crimea were destroyed by air defense on duty," the report says.
And on the eve of the events described, the naval aviation of the Russian Navy carried out bombing on targets in the area of Zmeiny Island, destroying warehouses and swimming facilities that the Ukrainian side wanted to use to land a group of saboteurs on the Crimean coast.
In short, the carefully prepared action of the Kiev authorities was mostly thwarted.
