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Ukraine took out a Russian air-defense system in western Crimea earlier this week with a "new, completely modern" missile, a Kyiv official has said, after it launched a new round of attacks on the Russian-annexed peninsula.
The new missile worked "flawlessly" during Ukraine's attack on an S-400 "Triumf" air-defense system at Cape Tarkhankut on Wednesday, the Ukrainian Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, told media.
Media reports offered no further details about the new missile, but Kyiv has used domestic-made weaponry, such as its Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles, to strike targets in the Black Sea. Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry for additional comment.
On Wednesday, Ukraine's military intelligence agency said it had "completely destroyed" the system, along with a number of missiles, and had killed or injured Russian personnel. The agency, known as the GUR, then published a video on its social media networks showing a large explosion and a dense cloud of smoke.
Moscow seized control of Crimea in 2014 and has governed the peninsula in the years since, although the Kremlin's claim over the territory to the south of mainland Ukraine is not internationally recognized. Kyiv has vowed to retake Crimea, and has upped its attacks on the Russian-held territory since the start of its counteroffensive in early June.
Ukraine said the following day that its forces had carried out a "special operation" in Crimea, using the Kremlin-approved term for its invasion of Ukraine to refer to an amphibious landing on Crimea to coincide with the country's independence day celebrations. Thursday marked more than three decades of independence from Soviet rule from Moscow.
GUR and Ukrainian naval fighters landed on the shores of the Russian-annexed territory at night on Thursday and approached the Crimean west-coast settlements of Olenivka and Mayak on waterborne vessels, the GUR said in a statement.
The GUR posted footage on social media it said was filmed in Crimea during the operation. It shows a Ukrainian soldier hanging the country's blue and yellow flag on the side of an unknown structure.
The footage is murky and impossible to verify, but it is nonetheless significant that "Ukraine is apparently able to land troops in Crimea, despite Russia's supposed naval control of the area," military expert David Hambling told Newsweek earlier this week.
"Having groups of enemy soldiers in a supposedly secure rear area looks like a serious security lapse," he added.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more