Iran Press/ Europe: Ukraine armed forces posted a statement Friday saying that around "12:00, the Ukrainian defense forces successfully struck the command headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet in temporarily-occupied Sevastopol," located on the southwest tip of Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed in 2014.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Kremlin-installed governor of Crimea, confirmed on social media that a missile struck the Black Sea Fleet headquarters. He said firefighters were trying to extinguish a fire in the building and that the shock wave from the blast "broke glass in 10 residential buildings in the city centre."
A video posted to social media on Friday, verified by Russian TACC showed smoke rising from the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet.
The fleet and its headquarters are obvious high-profile targets for Ukraine, which has pledged to oust the Russian occupiers from all of its territory - including Crimea and areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that have been under Russia's control for nearly a decade.
Ukraine's long-range offensive capabilities appear set to increase in the near future. The Biden administration has agreed to provide some long-range cluster missiles.
The cluster-armed ATACMS, with a range of between 70km to 300km, depending on the version chosen, could allow Ukraine to strike command posts, ammunition stores, and logistics routes far behind Russian front lines.
205
Hossein Vaez
