Ukraine’s armed forces attacked Crimea with long-range U.S. ATACMS missiles on the night of April 30. Simferopol and Dzhankoy came under attack. Traffic on the Crimean bridge was temporarily blocked. The Russian Defense Ministry said it had intercepted six ATACMS, without specifying where exactly they were shot down.
Ukrainian forces hit three air defense bases in Crimea with missiles at once, Astra writes, citing sources in the Emergencies Ministry. The Dzhankoy military airfield – the location of the helicopter regiment of the 4th Air Force and Air Defense Command of the Southern Military District – was attacked. Five servicemen were wounded.
Another AFU target was a military air defense unit of the Southern Military District in the village of Donskoye in Simferopol district. As a result of the strike, a fire broke out on the territory of the facility and was extinguished for more than an hour and a half. Servicemen were injured, their exact number is unknown.
The facilities of the 31st Air Defense Division in the Chernomorsk and Saky districts were also attacked by missiles. Four servicemen were wounded.
The Russian-appointed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov, commenting on the overnight shelling, warned residents of unexploded ATACMS munitions scattered across the area, attaching a photo. “Simferopol district, the village of Donskoye, neighborhood, after shooting down ATACMS missiles scattered undetonated submunitions. At detection do not pick up, do not approach, call EMERCOM and Interior Ministry”, wrote Aksenov.
Close to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Rybar telegram channel reported that on the night of April 30, the AFU launched a total of 12 ATACMS towards the peninsula: eight – at the airfield in Dzhankoy, four –at the airfield in Gvardeyskoye. The author of the publication drew attention to the increasing intensity of missile strikes on Crimea: in a week and a half, the AFU conducted attacks on Dzhankoy, Simferopol and Cape Tarkhankut, with a total of more than 30 ATACMS launched. He claims that after the official announcement of a new $61 billion aid package from the United States, Ukrainian forces are using only this type of missiles.
On April 24, several Western media outlets reported that Washington had secretly supplied Kyiv with long-range ATACMS. According to Bloomberg’s sources in the White House, the missiles were included in the $300m aid package approved back on March 12, and the decision to do so was made because Russia started hitting Ukraine’s critical infrastructure again. The AFU reportedly used the ATACMS it received on April 17, attacking a military airfield in Crimea, and then targeted Russian army positions east of occupied Berdyansk.
ATACMS are US tactical missiles launched from HIMARS and capable of hitting targets up to 300 kilometers away. They were also part of a new $61 billion aid package that U.S. President Joe Biden approved on April 24.
It is not yet known how many more ATACMS will be handed over to the AFU and of what range. However, The New York Times sources claimed that the US had previously provided Kyiv with missiles with a 300-kilometer range, authorizing them to hit Crimea and Russian army supply hubs in other occupied regions of Ukraine.
