Satellite Image Shows Smoke Rising From Crimea Black Sea HQ After Strike

Satellite imagery showed billows of smoke rise from Russia's Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Crimea following a Ukrainian strike on Friday.

Suspected Ukrainian missiles struck the headquarters in Sevastopol on Friday, the latest in a series of attacks against the Crimean port city amid the Russia-Ukraine war, launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022. The Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) reported on Friday morning that several missiles and drones were destroyed over Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.

The strike comes amid Ukraine's latest counteroffensive effort, aimed at reclaiming occupied territory seized by Moscow since Putin's "special military operation" began. Ukrainian forces, whose stronger-than-expected defense efforts have prevented Russia from making substantial progress in the invasion, have sought to "demilitarize" the Black Sea Fleet as Kyiv hopes to eventually retake control of Crimea, Newsweek previously reported.

Open-source intelligence analyst Brady Africk posted images showing the headquarters before and after the strike on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday afternoon.

"New satellite imagery of Crimea shows smoke rising from Russia's Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol. Recent videos from the ground showed multiple Ukrainian-operated Storm Shadow / SCALP cruise missiles hitting the site," he wrote.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment via email.

The strikes were carried out using guided missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, reported Ukrainska Pravda. At least one soldier was killed in the strike, though this number could not be independently verified by Newsweek. Meanwhile, Russia's defense ministry said its air defense forces knocked out five other missiles.

Sevastopol, the largest city on the Crimean peninsula, was again struck by explosions on Saturday morning, including a strike on the city's Inkerman District, where an oil depot of Russia's Black Sea Fleet is located.

Attacks in Crimea and the Black Sea have increased in recent weeks, with the region remaining a sticking point between Russia and Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly vowed to reclaim the territory for his nation, with his military striking at least 13 Russian targets on the Crimean Peninsula over the past three months, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank.

The attack drew condemnation from Kremlin propagandists, with former Kremlin adviser Sergei Markov saying that it showed "we are seeing a clear escalation of strikes" of Western-supplied missiles and drones.

"The air defense of the Russian army clearly needs serious reinforcements," Markov wrote on Telegram.

Andrey Kortunov, an adviser to the Russian Foreign Ministry and director of the Russian International Affairs Council, told the BBC's radio program Today that the damage was "quite limited" and that the strikes "didn't hit any really critical military targets."