Russia Shores Up Defenses in Crimea Following Embarrassing Losses

Russia is stepping up its air defense capabilities in southern Crimea after suffering several major blows to its infrastructure on the Black Sea Peninsula.

A Ukrainian partisan group in Crimea, which goes by Atesh, reported on its Telegram channel Wednesday that Russia deployed a S-400 surface-to-air missile system and a radar system near the port city of Saky. The report follows roughly a week after Ukraine claimed to have sunk another large landing ship a part of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in a drone attack on Crimea.

Atesh noted that the group "promptly sent all the information to the Ukrainian Defense Forces" after noticing the deployment of the S-400 and will continue to monitor any "further movement" of the systems "and record the new placement location."

Newsweek reached out to Russia's Defense Ministry via email for comment.

Ukraine has ramped up its attacks on the Kremlin's naval fleet in recent months. Last week's drone strike hit Russia's Caesar Kunikov landing ship while it was docked near the port city of Alupka. As of February 6, Kyiv officials estimate that around 33 percent of Moscow's warships in its Black Sea Fleet have been "disabled" since the war broke out roughly two years ago.

Russia has not directly addressed the landing ship's destruction, but its commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, was reportedly fired a few days after. The loss of the Caesar Kunikov is likely going to limit Russia's resources in Crimea, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry, which said that the warship was "heavily relied on to provide logistical support to the Black Sea Fleet and the Russian war in Ukraine."

While it has taken heavy losses in the Black Sea, Russia has seen recent success on the frontlines in eastern Ukraine, with Kyiv's troops being forced to withdraw from Avdiivka over the weekend after months of brutal fighting for the town. The Kremlin poured a considerable amount of resources and personnel into taking control of the village after launching a renewed offensive effort in October.

Avdiivka serves as a gateway to Russian-occupied Donetsk city, meaning that capturing the town allows Russia to push the front line farther from its illegally annexed Ukrainian territories.

"Our soldiers honorably fulfilled their military duty, did everything possible to destroy the best Russian military units, [and] inflicted significant losses on the enemy in manpower and equipment," Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's Army, said in a statement over the weekend after Kyiv's forces were pulled from Avdiivka.