In late September, Ukraine missiles tore through the Russian Black Sea Navy headquarters in Crimea. Russian leaders may have their own jilted officers to blame for the attack. Here is the full story.
A Deadly Missile Attack
On September 22, Ukraine launched a deadly missile attack on the Russian Black Sea Navy at its headquarters on the Crimean Peninsula.
The toll was heavy, with massive damage to the building taking a backseat to a reported 34 Russian soldiers killed and 105 more hurt in the blasts.
Among those lost, according to the Ukrainian military, was Admiral Viktor Sokolov. He was the commander of the Black Sea Fleet.
Ukraine also let the world in on a bit more information about their attack.
A Mole In Russian HQ?
In particular, their timing was very intentional because they knew Russian leaders would be meeting at Black Sea HQ that day.
And how did the Ukrainian military know precisely what Russian leadership was up to?
Well, it seems Russia has itself to blame for that one, at least if you believe reports coming from the Ukraine side of the battle.
As reported in the Kyiv Post, Ukraine resistance fighters revealed that they had learned sensitive information about the Black Sea Fleet directly from high-ranking Russian military personnel.
Soldiers Easily Bought When They’re Not Paid
According to the Post story, Moscow had fallen behind in paying the Russian soldiers’ salaries.
As the men grew more frustrated with the lack of payment, they also became more vulnerable.
The resistance fighters told the Post that the Russian soldiers were paid for information about the Black Sea Fleet.
The Ukrainian forces passed that intel up to their leadership.
Retaking the Peninsular
The end result was the deadly attack on the Black Sea Fleet, which was just the latest in a series of assaults on key Russian strongholds in Crimea.
In the weeks leading up to the HQ missile strike, a Black Fleet air base and command post were hit, along with a shipyard in Sevastopol.
That shipyard attack killed dozens of Russian military personnel, according to Ukrainian sources.
The fortified efforts to oust Russia from Crimea are aided by the growing strength of ATESH, a collaboration between Ukrainians and Tatars in the area to retake the peninsula.
And now, it seems, ATESH has an inside track to the sort of vital information that can accelerate their plans.
“Demilitarized and Liberated”
A spokesperson for ATESH says that Russian soldiers have been toying with the idea of supplying intel for a while. But the lack of payment from their own military pushed them over the edge.
And when Ukraine offers to fill the gap, “the financial reward only helps them to decide on cooperation with the ATESH movement,” says the spokesperson.
As for the higher-ups in Ukraine, they have a stark message for Russia: they won’t stop until Vladimir Putin is pushed off the peninsula.
According to Mykhailo Podolyak, one of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s advisors, “Crimea will definitely be demilitarized and liberated.”
The post A ‘Lethal Security Breach’: Ukraine ‘Exploiting Russian Discontent’ as Putin Leaves Soldiers Unpaid first appeared on The Net Worth Of.
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