Near the Hvardiiske military airfield close to occupied Simferopol in Crimea, Russian occupiers are increasing their air defense forces and equipment. The enemy is redeploying such weaponry from other sections of the frontline, the partisan movement ATESH reports. Representatives of the Ukrainian underground managed to gather intelligence on this airfield near Simferopol The movement noted that the enemy is actively using the Hvardiiske airfield to station its aviation and manage logistics on the occupied Ukrainian peninsula "We have observed a significant increase in air defense systems near the airfield identifying numerous S-400 launchers and radar stations," the ATESH report stated Partisans also added that this facility plays a "key role" in providing air support and supplying Russian troops in southern Ukraine ATESH showed photos of enemy air defense systems and revealed the airfield's coordinates: 45.120762527 the movement reported that all the information obtained by partisans was transferred to Ukraine's Defense and Security Forces ATESH partisans reported that a military convoy of Russian forces was spotted near occupied Dzhankoi in northern Crimea The convoy was transporting not only soldiers but also ammunition for air defense systems and large quantities of fuel In November last year, partisans detected air defense systems in Sevastopol and promised "surprises" for the Russian occupiers ShareSaveComment@font-face{font-family: "Schnyder"; src: url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/schnyders/schnyders-bold-webfont.woff2") format("woff2") url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/schnyders/schnyders/schnyders-bold-webfont.woff") format("woff"); font-weight: 700; font-style: normal;} @font-face{font-family: "Merriweather"; src: url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/merriweather/merriweather-bold-webfont.woff2") format("woff2") url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/merriweather/merriweather-bold-webfont.woff") format("woff"); font-weight: 700; font-style: normal;} @font-face{font-family: "Euclid"; src: url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/euclidcircularb/euclidcircularb-bold-webfont.woff2") format("woff2") 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.headline-embed .bg-base{background-color: #FFFFFF;} #article-stream-0 .headline-embed.font-base #article-stream-0 .headline-embed .font-base{font-family: Schnyder,"Noto Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",Corbel,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;} #article-stream-0 .headline-embed.font-size #article-stream-0 .headline-embed .font-size{font-size: 54px;}The air base at Hvardiiske before the Aug A Ukrainian drone blew up an ammunition dump at a Russian airfield near Hvardiiske in occupied Crimea on Tuesday The Hvardiiske attack coincided with separate strikes on Russian facilities in Crimea including a Ukrainian commando raid on a Russian ammo dump near Mayskoye—and came exactly a week after a Ukrainian attack on another Russian airfield on the strategic peninsula which Russian forces seized in February 2014 in the opening phase of the now eight-year Russia-Ukraine war It’s unclear whether any of the warplanes that fly from Hvardiiske—reportedly 12 Su-24 bombers and 12 Su-25 attack planes—suffered any damage The jets support the Russian navy’s beleaguered Black Sea Fleet whose headquarters are in Sevastopol in Crimea The airfield near Hvardiiske is just north of Simferopol in central Crimea The front line between Russian-occupied Kherson and the free city of Mykolaiv is 150 miles north of the airfield Thus it makes sense that an explosives-laden drone apparently on a one-way mission struck the Hvardiiske base The airfield is too deep inside Russian lines for Ukraine’s manned warplanes safely to penetrate and too far away for Ukraine’s ballistic and cruise missiles to reach bore the hallmarks of a ballistic-missile strike the Ukrainians now can hold at risk Russian targets as far as 150 miles from the line of contact The Saki raid compelled the Black Sea Fleet to relocate that base’s surviving warplanes The attack on Hvardiiske could lead to the fleet pulling back its planes even farther The farther a warplane’s base is from the fighting the more fuel the plane must burn reaching its target—and the less time it can spend over the battlefield The Russian air force possesses just 19 Il-78 tanker planes They’re too few—and too busy supporting the air force’s strategic bombers—to help shepherd attack jets toward the Ukrainian front It’s no secret the Ukrainian armed forces have concentrated their best troops and artillery around Kherson—even accepting some territorial losses in the east in order to do so those troops crossed the Inhulets River north of Kherson support a wider counteroffensive in the south It’s possible commanders are waiting for Ukrainian deep strikes to cut off and starve the Russian 49th Combined Arms Army in and around Kherson the 49th CAA with its two-dozen battalions is a powerful force But the 49th CAA with no air support and no resupply might quickly crumble in the face of a determined attack Hence the escalating Ukrainian deep strikes on ammunition dumps railways and airfields across southern Ukraine Planners in Kyiv are shaping the southern battlefield It remains to be seen whether and when the army brigades on the ground might take advantage of that shaping—and what their odds are when they collide with the 49th CAA commandos and partisans who heroically are blowing up Russia’s bases in the region First videos from the site have already spread through the open media the footage below shows smoke rising after the initial strike followed by the second explosion Update note: the original link to the video has crashed so here we provided an alternative link to the same footage This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Russia claimed a supposed rocket attack on the Hvardiiske airbase in Crimea Although it supposedly happened on March 1 Russia only mentioned the attack on March 4 "The Hvardiiske airbase in Crimea was attacked by rockets Three servicemen were wounded," ASTRA said supposedly two "unidentified rockets" fell on the territory of the Hvardiiske airbase (military unit 46451) around 4 pm on March 1 Three servicemen were injured," says the source the 37th mixed aviation regiment of the Russian Air Force consisting of two squadrons of Su-24M and Su-25SM aircraft - 12 each Explosions also happened in the area of the airbase on August 16 the occupiers claimed a supposed anti-aircraft missile system activation Two more explosions were recorded on August 2 Partisans have staged several raids on this airbase partisans infiltrated the Hvardiiske airfield where they spotted several anti-aircraft defense systems powerful explosions were heard in the vicinity of the cities of Sevastopol and Saky Witnesses also reported explosions in Hvardiiske and instances of gunfire in Feodosia smoke was seen in the sky over the settlement of Hvardiiske in the Simferopol district terrorists launched aviation into the sky to "protect it from strikes on the airfields." Following the announcement of an air alert a powerful explosion occurred at the Belbek military airfield in the temporarily occupied Crimea fire trucks and ambulances were reported heading toward the military airfield The Belbek military airfield serves as a base for the russian Aerospace Forces housing the 38th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 27th Mixed Aviation Division This aviation regiment operates a fleet comprising Su-27 fighter aircraft along with the latest Su-30SM multirole fighters there were hints about the involvement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in strikes on the occupied Crimea "Are you aware of the existence of the 204th Sevastopol Tactical Aviation Brigade within the Ukrainian Armed Forces' Air Force?" the Commander of the Air Force of Ukraine Mykola Oleshchuk wrote in a post on his Telegram channel its designated home base is the Belbek airfield Ukrainian aviators will surely return home to their native airfield thanks to everyone who contributed to clearing Crimea of russian presence!" he stated On the night of April 21, Russia attacked Ukraine with three missiles, including Oniks, and nearly 100 drones. Ukrainian air defense systems shot down less than half of the drones, the Ukrainian Air Force says Russia attacked Kherson region with an Oniks anti-ship cruise missile from Crimea and Mykolaiv region with 2 Kh-31P anti-radar missiles from the airspace over the Black Sea," the statement said Russian invaders also attacked Ukraine with 96 attack drones (other types of imitation drones) and Hvardiiske (temporarily occupied Crimea) Russia's air attack was repelled by aviation and mobile fire groups of the Ukrainian Defense Forces 42 Shahed-type attack drones (and other types of drones) were confirmed to have been shot down in the east and center of Ukraine," the Ukrainian military said 47 Russian imitator drones were lost locally Russian drones attacked the Cherkasy region on the morning of April 21 The Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration said it was aware of the attack and its consequences the Kremlin announced a so-called Easter truce that was supposed to last from 6 p.m Kyiv time on the same day until midnight on April 21 Russian troops did not comply with the terms The Russian strikes on Ukrainian positions continued including the killing of a civilian in the village of Stanislav no air raid alert was declared in Ukraine during the so-called truce The first time sirens sounded in Ukraine was around 1 a.m the Ukrainian military spotted Russian reconnaissance drones and aircraft activity rockets attacked the Belbek airfield in the occupied Crimea Corresponding videos and photos have appeared online and the Ukrainian side confirmed the strike but has not yet disclosed specific targets For more details on what happened at the enemy airbase data from the Telegram channel Crimean Wind statements from governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Commander of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Mykola Oleshchuk military spokespersons Yurii Ihnat and Natalia Humeniuk and comments from expert Oleksandr Musiienko were used Explosions and fires: What happened at the Balbek airfield A series of explosions rocked Crimea in the second half of the day on January 31 loud noises were heard in the vicinity of Sevastopol subsequent explosions occurred in Sevastopol and footage with smoke over the settlement of Hvardiiske appeared online reports again surfaced of explosions in the northern part of Sevastopol and Shcholkine on the Kerch Peninsula news emerged of a fire in the vicinity of the Belbek airfield The Telegram channel Crimean Wind published a video showing a missile likely hitting one of the objects photos of burning Russian equipment after the strike have surfaced Photo: Russian burning equipment at the Belbek airfield (t.me/Crimeanwind) The so-called governor Mikhail Razvozhaev reported the repelling of a massive attack on Sevastopol Debris fell in the private sector in the area of Fedorivska Street damaging 12 buildings in the Ust-Belbek gardening community The monitoring group of Crimean Wind noted that these cottages are located 250-350 meters from the likely explosion site in the radar station town at the Belbek airfield missiles struck the radar station town (t.me/Crimeanwind) the Russian Ministry of Defense reported a 100% success rate in dealing with aerial targets The report claimed that the Ukrainian side allegedly launched 20 guided aviation missiles Air defense systems shot down 17 of them over the Black Sea and three more over the peninsula itself The department also stated that "there is no damage to aviation equipment." the Commander of the Air Forces of Ukraine hinted that Ukrainian aviation could be behind the strike "Did you know that the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine include the 204th Sevastopol Tactical Aviation Brigade its permanent deployment is at the Belbek airfield Ukrainian aviators will definitely return home to their native airfield thanks to everyone who contributed to clearing Crimea of Russian presence," he wrote on his Telegram the spokesperson for the Defense Forces of the South of Ukraine the occupiers themselves have already admitted that five missiles found refuge on the territory of temporarily occupied Crimea They even marked the places where it happened And admitted that they did not have time to disperse the aircraft fleet Including damaged aircraft at Belbek itself confirmation from the Commander of the Air Force that Crimea is Ukraine and we are reclaiming what is ours," she noted What they could strike and what the targets were Analysts from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) drew attention to a statement by one of the "Z-war correspondents" that Ukrainian forces allegedly used Storm Shadow cruise missiles during the strikes Ukraine attacked the Saky airfield north of Sevastopol in early January 2024 The use of aviation missiles was confirmed by Yurii Ihnat "The Russian presence in Crimea is diminishing Our tactical aviation pilots are clearing Crimea of Russians with cruise missiles provided by our partners Crimean Wind reports that a part of the runway near the takeoff strip broke off from the shockwave after the strike on the airfield Conclusions were confirmed by international OSINT researchers Photo: Data from international OSINT researchers (t.me/Crimeanwind) Sources from the Russian news agency ASTRA confirm the impact of an unidentified missile on the airfield's territory the communication point of military unit 80159 Some of the aircraft could not be lifted after the missile threat signal the missiles allegedly hit a special forces training camp resulting in the death of 9 elite fighters and damage to equipment The channel notes that the information came from multiple sources but the tragedy was decided not to be officially disclosed confirmed the impact on objects at the airfield but provided no details we need to wait for satellite images and confirmation from our intelligence about which objects were affected and we would like more aviation equipment to be incapacitated," he stated DefenseExpress analysts write that Belbek has been attacked before One of the Russian fighter aviation regiments and other tactical aviation units are based there If the strikes were indeed carried out with Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles the target was the command post of the airbase which is a priority target for such missiles at airfields The results of OSINT geolocation also support this Photo: Geolocation of one of the strikes on the Belbek airfield (t.me/DniproOsintNew) considering that multiple missiles are usually launched It is entirely possible that deep-buried communication points or radar stations were hit Russian military holds radar stations similar to Nebo at the Belbek airfield Information about aircraft damage looks doubtful at the moment there is information that part of the runway near the takeoff strip broke off Head of the Сenter of Military Law Researches also believes that there could have been multiple targets "I think the target was the command center Targets could also include depots with missiles and guided bombs this can cause a serious fire at the airfield Storm Shadow can be applied as well," he comments to RBC-Ukraine Although the primary goal was likely to hit the command center and incapacitate the airfield directly to deprive the Russians of the opportunity to use Belbek they will not be able to use it for its intended purpose But I also realize that they will restore it And until we see that they are abandoning Belbek This will show over time; it is too early to draw conclusions," emphasizes the expert the Russians will reduce the number of flights "The duration will depend on how quickly they can recover how quickly our forces can repeat the strike Disabling the airfield may be a matter not of one or two attacks but more and Ukrainian forces will continue to strike them," adds Musiienko What is known about the Balbek airfield and why it is a significant target Belbek is an airbase of the Russian Aerospace Forces it was an international airport serving Sevastopol and other cities in Crimea The name comes from the Belbek River in the southwest of the peninsula The airfield is located on the Black Sea coast Photo: Russian aviation at the captured Belbek airfield (mil.ru) Civil transportation started in July 2002 under Ukrainian authority and the airport obtained a license for international flights it housed the aviation of the 204th Brigade of the Ukrainian Air Force Belbek was captured by Russians on February 28 a large part of the planes was handed over to Ukraine Russians stationed the 38th Fighter Aviation Regiment on Belbek two aviation regiments are currently based there primarily tactical aviation is present at Belbek "These are various modifications of Su aircraft that take off and terrorize the Azov Sea and Black Sea waters These are directions where the enemy periodically conducts so-called pinpoint missile attacks and takes off for gathering information," she noted Oleksandr Musiienko explains why the airfield is a significant target Belbek is used to accommodate aircraft like Su including frontline bombers involved in strikes with guided bombs in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia directions along the front line and also for launching Kh-59 missiles," he explains Sometimes it receives military transport aircraft like Il-76 and deploy personnel for the occupation army "It is extremely important for us to reduce the enemy's capabilities regarding the use of missiles and bombs and deprive them of a logistics hub I think our forces will continue to work on it until the Russians take their planes from there and relocate them as far as possible," concluds the expert.