Russia has already deployed the MiG-31 fighters with which it will patrol the Black Sea at an airfield in Crimea, despite the risk of being hit by long-range missiles from Ukraine, such as the American ATACMS, which recently hit two Russian air bases in the south and east ukrainian.
An open source intelligence (OSINT) analyst, MT Anderson, published on the social network which identifies at least four MiG-31s ??that were previously missing.
Three days later, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of permanent patrols by Russian aviation equipped with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles in the Black Sea, which will also allow Moscow to control the Mediterranean. The MiG-31s ??will be equipped with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, which “have more than 1,000 kilometers range,” according to Putin.
“I think Russia takes a pretty big risk when it redeploys its MiG-31s ??to Crimea. I think it will be a good target for our unmanned systems and guided cruise missiles,” Defense Express consulting analyst Serguí Zugurets told the channel. Ukrainian television station Espresso.
The spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuri Ignat, stated the day before that Russia uses about 40 airfields in its war in Ukraine and that the fact that it has deployed MiG-31 in Belbek “is nothing new.” He did recall that more than one airfield used by Russia was attacked by Ukrainian forces, and warned that they will continue working to “clean up the Russian filth.”
The most recent Ukrainian attack against an air base in Crimea occurred at the end of last September, when Russian anti-aircraft defenses intercepted a missile precisely in the Belbek area. Also in the same month, Ukrainian intelligence claimed responsibility for an attack with drones and Neptun cruise missiles against the Saki military airfield, further north. Also in January, two drones were shot down near Belbek.
However, the most notorious Ukrainian attack against Russian air bases in Crimea so far occurred in August 2022 at the Saki airfield. Satellite images released then showed the destruction of at least eight Russian aircraft.
The constant Ukrainian attacks forced Russia to move its planes away, but the return of the MiG-31s ??to Crimea occurs despite the fact that last Tuesday two Russian airfields in the occupied cities of Berdiansk (southeast) were hit by US long-range ATACMS missiles. ) and Lugansk (east), both 100 and 85 kilometers, respectively, from the front.
In principle, the ATACMS, which Kiev launched on Tuesday, have a range of 300 kilometers, but Ukraine would have received modified ones of 165 kilometers, so Belbek would in principle be out of range from the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kherson, which It is 245 kilometers in a straight line.
However, past attacks have shown that Ukraine has the means to attack the Russian air base, either with drones or Neptun missiles, with a range of about 280 kilometers. In turn, the British Storm Shadow have a range of 250 kilometers.
British military intelligence said today that the announcement of patrols with Kinzhal-equipped MiG-31s ??is in any case “in line with typical Russian rhetoric aimed at its domestic audience, which calls the West aggressors and at the same time frames Russian activity as necessary for the protection of the State”. He also believes that Putin wants to demonstrate that Russia is capable of producing and operating newly developed weapons.
Meanwhile, on the front, the activity of Russian troops near the town of Avdivka, in the eastern province of Donetsk, has decreased slightly, although they continue to “advance”, a Ukrainian military spokesman declared today.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted today that Russian forces launched a “renewed offensive” near Avdivka on October 20 and made marginal progress, “indicating that the Russian military command remains committed to offensive operations in the area despite the great losses of material and personnel”.
