Ukraine changes strategy: sabotage?

Military strikes hit Russian supplies - experts believe there will be a turnaround

Created: 08/17/2022, 16:26

By: Patrick Mayer

After a massive explosion at a Russian ammunition depot in Crimea, workers are repairing a nearby and damaged railway line.

© IMAGO / SNA

The Russian invasion troops are apparently getting into trouble in southern Ukraine.

This probably has to do with rocket attacks on supplies and sabotage in Crimea.

Munich/Crimea/Kherson - There are scenes reminiscent of films from the Second World War.

Nothing works on a railway line because of destroyed tracks, the important traffic route is no longer suitable for the replenishment of military equipment.

This is apparently exactly what is happening in the Ukraine war in Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed from its western neighbor in 2014.

At war with Russia: Attacks on supply lines - Is Ukraine pursuing a new strategy?

An example:

According to the Russian Crimean administration, on Tuesday (August 16) there was an explosion in a temporary ammunition storage facility in the north-east of the Black Sea peninsula.

Photos show a tall column of smoke near the Sea of ​​Azov. 

In addition to the depot, civilian infrastructure such as a high-voltage line, a power plant, a railway line and several houses were damaged, the authorities said.

The head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, called the explosion an "operation to demilitarize Crimea" in the online service Telegram and described it as a "masterstroke of the Ukrainian armed forces".

In the video: Compact - The most important news about the Russia-Ukraine war

A second example:

On Tuesday a week earlier (August 9), there had been a heavy explosion at a Russian military base, also in Crimea.

One person was allegedly killed, eight planes and a significant amount of ammunition destroyed, the authorities of the Black Sea Peninsula said.

The Ukrainian military specifically indicated an attack, Moscow initially spoke of a violation of fire protection, which allegedly led to the explosion.

On Wednesday (August 17) it was said from Moscow that a "six-strong terrorist cell" had been arrested.

The respective information cannot be checked independently.

: is Kiev's new strategy behind the explosions on the Russian supply lines in the south and in Crimea?

also read

Ex-intelligence chief: Vladimir Putin will experience an 'unpleasant end'

"Resounding slap in the face", "disrespectful": Habeck explains the gas levy - fireworks of anger and warnings follow

Cherson and Crimea: Attacks on infrastructure - Ukraine troops want to stop Russian supplies

A lot speaks for it.

An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mykhailo Podolyak, told the British newspaper 

 that Ukraine wanted to create "chaos within Russian troops" by attacking supply lines.

"I think we'll see more of that," Podolyak explained.

A military expert even believes that the explosions in Crimea endanger the Russian occupation of the city of Cherson in southern Ukraine.

I think the Russians will withdraw from Kherson soon.

Dmitri Alperovitch, Chair of the Silverado Policy Accelerator think tank

"I think the Russians will soon withdraw from Kherson," said Dmitri Alperovitch, chairman of the Washington-based think tank Silverado Policy Accelerator, according to

: "It's becoming untenable.

It's really difficult to replenish the armed forces.” And that's not all: The deputy head of the Ukrainian administration of Kherson, Yuri Sobolevsky, even claimed on Telegram that large parts of the Russian military command had already left the city.

Ukraine war: will Kyiv use a new missile in the fight against the Russian army?

There are now several external assessments that define Kiev's new strategy in the fight against the Russian invasion.

According to the US think tank Institute for the Study of War, the attacks are aimed specifically at disrupting Russia's supplies to the Ukraine front.

According to this, Ukrainian troops are currently targeting bridges in the Dnipro region with the river of the same name with their artillery bombardments.

Military logistics centers in the Cherson region are also being targeted.

The US experts also believe that the attacks in Crimea would also fit in.

In its modified strategy, Ukraine is apparently relying on its new Hrim-2 ballistic missile.

This can allegedly cover a range of up to 500 kilometers.

Military expert Klaus Wittmann does not rule out such a new Ukrainian weapon system, which "we don't know yet and which has such a long range," said the retired general in an interview with Die

- and also named sabotage as a possible means.

Smoke billows from an explosion Tuesday (16 August) over an ammunition dump on the Crimean peninsula.

© Sergei Malgavko/imago-images

Ukraine War: According to Washington, up to 80,000 Russian soldiers killed and wounded

Meanwhile, on the Russian side, things are apparently not only lacking in the supply of material and war equipment.

"The Russians probably suffered 70,000 to 80,000 casualties in less than six months," US Pentagon official Colin Kahl told reporters Aug. 8.

Moscow's losses are "quite remarkable given that the Russians failed to achieve any of the goals stated by Vladimir Putin at the start of the war."

Casualties in this context mean killed and wounded soldiers.

In addition, the Russian army lost "three or four thousand" armored vehicles.

Kahl went on to say that Putin had not achieved any of his goals: “His overarching goal was to overrun the entire country, bring about regime change in Kyiv and wipe out Ukraine as an independent, sovereign and democratic nation.

None of that happened."