Satellite images reveal damage to Russian air base in Crimea post-attack, but who did it?

Tuesday’s attack on a Russian naval air base on the west coast of the Crimean peninsula, which Russia had annexed in 2014, left one dead and several injured.

Representational Image | Twitter/@DefenceU

New Delhi: New satellite imagery released by American firm Planet Labs late Wednesday has revealed the extent of damage inflicted by a recent attack targeting a Russian naval air base in the town of Saky, Crimea, which left one dead and several injured.

Notably, this imagery features several destroyed Russian aircraft with craters at the scene, although the runways appeared intact, contradicting Russia’s claim that no aircraft were impacted by the attack, according to the BBC and The Guardian.

“Most of the damaged or destroyed aircraft are in a specific area of the base where a large number of planes were parked out in the open — away from the cover of hangars,” the BBC added.

The two media publications have further cited defence experts and the UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, to explain the kind of weapons used in the attack. Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins speculated that the attack was the result of “precise strikes from a long range munition”, while Wallace said it was unlikely the attack was carried out with Western-made weapons.

However, the images themselves do not reveal any new information about the nature of the attack or the parties responsible for it, with Russia having previously claimed that the incident was caused by detonation of ammunition and was not a targeted attack.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack, although President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to reference the incident in his public address Tuesday, claiming that Russia’s war in Ukraine must end with the liberation of Crimea as Russia had annexed the peninsular province in 2014.

Furthermore, Ukrainian military officials appear to have anonymously admitted in private that Ukraine was behind the attack, according to a report by the New York Times.

“The senior Ukrainian official said the attack involved partisan resistance forces loyal to the government in Kyiv, but he would not disclose whether those forces carried out the attack or assisted regular Ukrainian military units in targeting the base, as has sometimes occurred in other Russian-occupied territories,” the report added.