The Ukrainian military has hit at least one Russian air defense system on Snake Island over the weekend, CNN said, citing three U.S. defense officials and a Ukrainian official. The blow to the SA-15 short-range air defense system adds to the blows to a Russian helicopter and a landing ship, a senior US defense official said, News.ro reports.
“We believe that at least three targets were hit by airstrikes on Snake Island,” the official said in a briefing Monday. A satellite image on Sunday morning showed two columns of smoke rising from the island.
Another US official said it was not clear what the strategic value of the blows was, pointing out that the island is of extraordinary symbolic importance to Ukraine.
A Ukrainian official said two SA-15 systems had been hit, not one. It remains to be seen whether the air defense system was a target of opportunity or a concerted effort to fight Russia’s air defense, which limited the ability of the Ukrainian air force to fly, CNN said.
A Ukrainian official said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had destroyed a helicopter and several small ships.
However, the Russian Ministry of Defense offered a very different version of events. Major General Igor Konashenkov said that on Saturday night, two other Ukrainian Su-24 bombers and a Mi-24 helicopter of the Ukrainian Air Force were destroyed by Russian air defense systems over the island.
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