Ukraine's Amphibious Assault on Crimea Sours Putin's Big Moment

Ukrainian military intelligence marked the country's independence day on Thursday by announcing a successful amphibious operation in Crimea, in a week that has seen multiple attacks on sensitive military sites on the Russian-occupied peninsula.

"The units of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense landed as part of a special operation, [and] all tasks were completed," said Andrey Yusov, a spokesperson for the GUR agency.

The announcement came the day after Ukraine claimed to have destroyed a Russian S-400 anti-aircraft system near the Crimean settlement of Olenivka, and published a video showing the dramatic detonation of the $500 million system.

The S-400 strike coincided with an attack that damaged a Bastion anti-ship missile system at Cape Tarkhankut, close to Olenivka. The pressure on Crimea—intensified already through increasingly common aerial and naval drone attacks, plus repeated attacks on the Kerch Strait Bridge—is building.

Moscow considers Crimea Russian territory and the foundation of President Vladimir Putin's neo-imperial mythmaking project. Continued attacks there undermine Kremlin efforts to consolidate power and silence its critics.

The suspected downing of Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane sent a message of Putin's continued ruthless control, but Ukrainian success in Crimea sends a very different signal. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.

"Crimea now cannot be called a safe haven," Ivan Stupak—a former officer in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and now an adviser to the Ukrainian parliament's national security, defense and intelligence committee—told Newsweek.

"This week is amazing, really amazing," Stupak, who also works with the Ukrainian Institute for the Future, said.

'We're Just Starting'

The GUR said in a statement posted on Telegram that "special units on watercraft landed on the shore in the area of the Olenivka and Mayak settlements" on the northwestern tip of Crimea. "As a result, the enemy suffered losses among personnel, enemy equipment was destroyed. Also, the state flag flew again in Ukrainian Crimea."

"All goals and tasks have been completed. At the end of the special operation, the Ukrainian defenders left the scene without casualties." The statement was posted with a video showing a small motorboat moving through water at night near a coastline, a Ukrainian flag being raised on an unidentified building in an unknown location, and an apparent firefight with unknown enemies.

This week's attacks in Crimea have focused on Cape Tarkhankut, which protrudes into the Black Sea from the northwestern coast of the peninsula and offers a natural defensive position for the bay of Sevastopol and the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquartered there.

Stupak said the Cape is home to "a number of different radar systems, long-range systems, medium-range systems, anti-aircraft systems like the S-400, S-300, and so on." The area is "a very strong point" which Stupak said "makes it very challenging for Ukrainian special forces to conduct special operations in Sevastopol."

"I believe that from yesterday and today, our special forces have more opportunities to conduct more successful operations in Sevastopol harbor," Stupak said, noting that "vessels, aircraft, and supply vessels" would be among the most alluring targets for Kyiv's troops.

"We're just starting," Stupak said. "Everything is in the future."

The amphibious landing appears a largely symbolic one, designed to buoy Ukrainian morale and once again humiliate Russian forces who have spent years fortifying the peninsula in case of a future Ukrainian attack.

"The minimum was to deploy on the beach, and to take a picture with the flag," Stupak said of the amphibious operation. "But I believe that the main task was maybe to conduct some saboteur operations, maybe to blow up some radar systems or something else."

"But perhaps our forces met with some coastguards or border force, and there was gunfire. So, the operation was not so successful, but it was a very emotional one for Ukrainians...We are satisfied even with those outcomes."

Putin and Prigozhin

Putin and his top officials show no sign of downgrading their maximalist war goals. Kyiv and its Western partners must accept the "new territorial realities" of Russian occupation before any negotiations can be held, the Russian president has repeatedly said.

With Ukraine again on the offensive and the Wagner Group mutiny still reverberating around the Russian political sphere, Putin is seeking to consolidate his own power ahead of next year's presidential elections.

The race will be rigged, but "the boss"—as Putin is often referred to among Kremlin power players—will want the electoral theater to proceed smoothly.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, wrote on X—formerly known as Twitter—that this week's "show-stopping removal of Prigozhin and the Wagner command two months after the coup attempt is Putin's signal to Russian elites ahead of the 2024 elections: 'Fight! Disloyalty equals death.'"

Samuel Ramani, the author of Putin's War on Ukraine and an associate fellow at the British Royal United Services Institute think tank, told Newsweek this is "probably a legitimate hypothesis, and this is why Prigozhin had to go."

"Obviously, Prigozhin's death is being celebrated in Kyiv because of how reviled he was for what he did in Bakhmut, what he's done in other parts of the country," Ramani added. "The majority of people in Ukraine seem to be buying the view that Putin carried this out as some kind of revenge mission."

While fear and retribution pervade in Russia, Ukraine's ambitious Crimea landing underscores its commitment to full liberation, regardless of skepticism in Moscow and the West. "There's a lot of confidence, a lot of bravado right now," Ramani said.