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In yet another major escalation, on July 9, the Kiev regime fired several missiles at Bryansk and Rostov oblasts (regions) and at least one cruise missile at Russia’s strategically important Crimean Bridge. According to the governor of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian military, specifically its 37th Air Defense Division, shot down the missile, preventing any possible damage to the bridge. There’s speculation that the missile could have been either a Soviet-era S-200 SAM (surface-to-air missile) system modified for ground attacks or the Anglo-French “Storm Shadow”, a relatively long-range, “stealthy”, subsonic, air-launched cruise missile. The intercept took place over the city of Kerch on the Crimean peninsula.
The Crimean Bridge has been a prized propaganda target for the Neo-Nazi junta forces for over a year and a half now. Drones have become a regular feature of attacks on key Russian regions, including Crimea. However, this marks the first time long-range missiles have been used in such strikes. And if the missile intercepted over Kerch was indeed “Storm Shadow”, it also marks the first time a NATO-sourced long-range missile was used in such attacks. According to local reports, the incident resulted in a temporary halt to all traffic over the immense bridge, although it was restored soon after Russian air defense systems and units made sure there were no any additional threats.
Elsewhere, the Rostov oblast authorities reported that another missile was also intercepted over this area in southern Russia. Governor Vasily Golubev reported that there were no casualties and that the debris only partially damaged the roofs of several buildings. In addition, Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the Bryansk oblast, stated that two missiles fired by the Kiev regime forces have been shot down in the area. There were no casualties, although a small sawmill had been destroyed in the village of Bitosh. Meanwhile, several Telegram channels posted footage of what appears to be a 5V28 missile of the S-200 SAM system hitting the rooftop of a civilian building in the village of Dyatkovo, marking the first filmed usage of this missile for ground attack purposes.
This sort of attacks have escalated significantly in recent months, although Russia’s second-to-none air defenses have prevented casualties in virtually all targeted Russian regions. Still, the Kremlin cannot ignore the immediate danger to its citizens and has accused the United States and its NATO vassals and satellite states of directly assisting in these attacks, as the Neo-Nazi junta is incapable of conducting long-range attacks without the support of Western ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) platforms. Russia has repeatedly warned that it could target the Kiev regime’s decision-making centers in response to these attacks and has actually done so in recent days, reportedly striking residences of General Valeriy Zaluzhny and GUR chief Kirill Budanov.
It should be noted that these attacks once again prove that Russian President Vladimir Putin was right in his assessments that NATO-sourced long-range weapons in the hands of the Neo-Nazi junta would be an existential threat to Russia and that Moscow would never allow any mass deployment of such missiles along its western borders. Putin has been warning about this prospect for years, at least since mid-2000s and has stated that Russia would develop advanced, next-generation long-range weapons to ensure its security. And indeed, Russia has developed a plethora of new weapons, particularly hypersonic platforms with virtually no analogues anywhere in the world in terms of capabilities and particularly not in terms of operational deployment.
Still, Moscow cannot ignore the danger of mass usage of long-range missiles against targets all across Russia, as it’s virtually impossible to defend the entire territory of the country. The simple reason is that it’s just too immense for such defenses to even be viable. For this reason, Moscow has revised its strategic posturing and military doctrine in a way to ensure the staging areas for such attacks are destroyed while air defenses would be tasked to intercept the initial wave of strikes, giving Russia the opportunity to respond accordingly. Unfortunately, the Kremlin is perfectly aware that it cannot count on any sort of agreement with the political West (much less with the Kiev regime), as the latter has so far unilaterally broken virtually every single one signed by the two sides.
In addition, the Neo-Nazi junta is getting desperate, as it’s now under extreme pressure to show results before the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, scheduled to start this week. As its suicidal attacks against Russian forces have been a catastrophic failure, with horrendous losses in both manpower and equipment, these long-range attacks serve as the only propaganda tool that could be used to present the funds and resources sent by the political West as supposedly “worthwhile”. NATO itself is effectively taking part in such strikes, both by providing the necessary weapons, as well as by providing ISR information on the targets within Russia. For its part, Moscow has exercised extreme restraint by not targeting NATO assets directly for such blatant belligerence, but its patience is not endless.
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Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst.
Featured image is from InfoBrics
