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On the night of May 19, the Armed Forces of Ukraine attempted another massive attack on the Russian rear regions. LINK One of the targets for Ukrainian drones and NATO missiles again was the Crimean peninsula.
According to the local reports, the western coast of Crimea was first targeted by UAVs that were launched from several directions from the southern areas under the Ukrainian control. Russian air defense forces were active in the areas of the Cape Tarkhankut and the city of Yevpatoria.
The drone strikes were aimed to distract Russian air defense forces. Soon after they were intercepted, Ukrainian/NATO military launched another massive attack with the US-made ATACMS missiles. The main target of the attack was presumably the Sevastopol Bay that hosts some ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
According to unconfirmed local reports, in total, 12 ATACMS missiles targeted the Crimean peninsula. As officially claimed by the Russian Ministry of Defense, nine of them were destroyed by Russian air defense forces deployed in the area of Sevastopol. Three missiles reportedly hit one of the berths in the bay, where one of the ships was located.
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Unconfirmed reports claimed that as a result of the attack, the Cyclone small missile ship sank in the sea port of Sevastopol. It was presumably hit by two ATACMS missiles. 6 servicemen of the Black Sea Fleet were reportedly killed, 11 others were wounded. These reports are yet to be confirmed by any footage from the spot or the satellite imagery.
The attack on Crimea and Russian rear regions was coordinated by the RQ-4B Global Hawk of the US Air reconnaissance aircraft of the US Air Force.
