Bayraktar TB2 could play a key role if a war break over Crimea, says Ukraine

To seize the initiative, destroy the most important infrastructure, ensure the entry of troops – the other day in the Kherson region, a special forces exercise of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was held, during which the operation to return Crimea to Ukraine was practiced. 

The scenario envisaged strikes by sabotage groups on key targets of the 22nd Army Corps of the Black Sea Fleet. According to Ukrainian media reports, after the manoeuvres, the units participating in them remained on the border with Crimea on high alert. About how Kyiv was going to recapture the peninsula – learned GDC citing RIA Novosti.

Liberating Crimea

The teachings legend is more like a blockbuster plot. Several groups of special forces cross the border unnoticed and secretly deepen into the territory of the peninsula. 

Distributed among the objects, the saboteurs paralyze the entire Russian army grouping at a time: they destroy the runways of airfields, destroy communication centres, headquarters and weapons depots, and eliminate commanders. 

According to the idea of ​​the Ukrainian command, the decapitating strike is followed by the offensive of the main ground and air forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the peninsula comes under the control of Kyiv.

Ukrainian military - RIA Novosti, 1920, 31.10.
Ukrainian Special Forces

Recently, Ukraine has become frequent with military exercises on the border with Crimea. So, at the end of October in the Kherson region, they worked out countering the mythical Russian reconnaissance and sabotage groups, which the Ukrainian authorities have been scaring the electorate with since 2014. The manoeuvres continued for several days, both in the daytime and in the dark. Western experts watched their progress.

“The general theme of the exercise is the development of a set of preventive measures aimed at ensuring an adequate level of protection of such facilities from possible terrorist threats. The training takes place in conditions as close as possible to real ones, in cooperation with the units of the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police, the State Emergency Service, The National Guard, the State Border Service of Ukraine, local government and local authorities, “Lieutenant General Serhiy Naev, commander of the Joint Forces Operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told reporters.

Ukrainian special forces - RIA Novosti, 1920, 11/10/2020
Ukrainian special forces

The fact that Ukraine is seriously considering a military solution to the Crimean issue is evidenced by the statements of the senior command staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Back in July, the Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces of Ukraine, Admiral Aleksey Neizhpapa, bluntly stated that Kiev wants to return Crimea and is preparing for full-scale military operations. 

The commander-in-chief boastfully recalled that the Ukrainians had developed the Neptune missile system, which supposedly could reach Sevastopol from the mainland. Russian politicians rightly noted that the launching positions of this “miracle weapon” would be immediately destroyed with a retaliatory strike if at least one missile was launched towards the Crimea.

Ukrainian Hopes

All attempts by Kiev to throw spies into Crimea invariably ended in failure. In April, the Russian FSB reported on the arrest of a group operating under the leadership of Colonel Oleg Akhmedov, head of the Kherson unit of the Ukrainian military intelligence. The saboteurs tried to find out the details of the layout of a number of sensitive facilities on the peninsula. 

In January, a local resident was arrested in Crimea, who, on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services, created caches with explosives. In February, the FSB announced the suppression of the preparation of terrorist attacks in two educational institutions in Kerch.

Servicemen in Donbass - RIA Novosti, 1920, 11/06/2020
Ukrainian Troops

The most famous incident occurred on the night of August 7-8, 2016, near the border Armyansk. During the arrest, the saboteurs resisted and opened fire. A Russian serviceman was killed. Two militants were liquidated, three were arrested.

Another group was found at the very border – at the technological dam across the Sivash Bay. According to the FSB, the Ukrainians wanted to mine it. The saboteurs opened fire here too, shot a soldier of the 247th Guards Airborne Assault Regiment, wounded several and left without loss. From the Ukrainian coast, their retreat was covered by a large-calibre machine gun.

TNT checkers discovered during the detention of Ukrainian saboteurs by the FSB of Russia in Crimea. FSB operatives found there 20 improvised explosive devices with a total capacity of more than 40 kilograms in TNT equivalent, as well as ammunition, detonators, antipersonnel and magnetic mines, grenades and special weapons. 

Apparently, these two groups were going to start a small war in Crimea. However, the Russian special services worked ahead of the curve, demonstrating that the Perekop Isthmus was reliably guarded. No wonder the Sevastopol “Berkut” in the days of the “Crimean spring” first of all took control of this key section of the border.

Russian Naval Base

It is important to note that “foreign partners” are indirectly pushing Kiev to an attempt to seize Crimea by force. NATO countries are actively arming the Armed Forces, supplying Ukrainian intelligence with information, conducting joint military exercises, and even recently used the country’s airspace for strategic bombers. 

And in mid-October, Kiev signed a military agreement with Ankara, providing, among other things, the purchase of Bayraktar TB-2 strike drones. It cannot be ruled out that the “hotheads” in the Ukrainian leadership, having seen enough of the successful actions of Turkish drones against the Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh, will decide on their own blitzkrieg.

Turkish drone Bayraktar TB2 - Russia news agency, 1920, 11/10/2020
Turksih Bayraktar TB2

According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, Ukraine and Turkey were very much encouraged by the effectiveness of the Bayraktar TB2 UAVs in Syria, Libya and Karabakh, apparently believing that a similar trick would work against Russia in Crimea. The main targets of the drones can be the positioning areas of the S-300 and S-400 air defense systems, and, according to Russian journalists, neither Kiev nor Ankara hide this.

However, Crimea today is one of the most protected places on Earth. The peninsula is defended by the 22nd Army Corps of the Black Sea Fleet, in which mainly contract soldiers serve. They are armed with the latest T-72B3 tanks, Tornado-G multiple launch rocket systems, Msta-S howitzers, coastal missile systems, and TOS-1A heavy flamethrower vehicles.

From the air, Crimea is covered by the 31st Air Defense Division, which includes two S-300PS air defense divisions and two S-400 Triumph air defense divisions. In addition, the aviation of the 27th mixed air division is on duty at the Belbek, Dzhankoy and Gvardeyskoye airfields: Su-24M2 bombers, Su-25SM attack aircraft, Su-27SM3 and Su-30M2 fighters and Ka-52 helicopters. 

And the ships of the Black Sea Fleet, one of the reliable waships in the Russian Navy, capable of protecting from a strike from the sea.

Air defense complex S-400 Triumph - RIA Novosti, 1920, 11/10/2020
S-400 SAM in Crimea

The Ukrainian military clearly does not have enough strength and resources to win in the Crimea. And it is unlikely that the European leaders would allow such a large scale conflict in their backyard.

Obviously, the Ukrainian authorities are again trying to play the card of external aggression in order to rally the electorate against the background of worsening economic and political problems in the country. It is possible to continue delivering low level drone strikes to the eastern neighbor. 

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