Russia lost half of its Black Sea fleet combat aircraft after explosions in Crimea — Western official

Last week, explosions at the Russian air base near the settlement of Novofedorivka in occupied Crimea disabled more than half of the combat aircraft of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, reported a Western official on condition of anonymity, writes Reuters.

He said that Ukraine is now consistently achieving a "kinetic effect" deep in Russia's rear, which significantly affects Russia's logistics support and exerts "a significant psychological effect on the Russian leadership."

"We now assess that the events of Saky airfield on August 9 put more than half of Black Sea fleet's naval aviation combat jets out of use," the official said.

At the same time, CNN, citing Western officials, also confirms that according to preliminary estimates, at least seven and possibly 10 aircraft were damaged or destroyed during the attack last week. The naval aviation of the fleet includes two squadrons with a total number of about two dozen combat aircraft (including Su-24M and Su-30SM aircraft).

Western officials also say Russia's Black Sea fleet is on the defensive after setbacks, including those explosions. At the same time, Russia still has dozens of combat aircraft at two other bases in Crimea, but they are not specifically assigned to the Black Sea Fleet.

Officials noted that the Ukrainian side really does have the opportunity to operate behind Russia's lines. They added that Ukrainian attacks in the south will have a strategic impact on the conflict if Ukraine can maintain this level of activity.

Background

On August 9, several explosions rang out on the territory of the military airfield near the settlement of Novofedorivka in the occupied Crimea. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation claimed that the detonation of several aviation munitions took place at the airfield "Saky" and denied the involvement of Ukrainian forces in the explosions. They also denied the loss of planes. Ukraine has also not officially confirmed its involvement in these blasts.

It should be noted that after that a series of explosions took place at other military facilities of the Russian occupation army in the annexed Crimea.