The target of the missile strike in Crimea could have been the underground headquarters of the Russian fleet – media

The location and type of weapon used provide the basis for interesting speculation.

A possible target of today’s missile strike in the village of Verkhnesadovoye near Sevastopol could be the underground command post of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The Storm Shadow missiles that probably carried out the strike are capable of this, writes the Ukrainian portal Defense Express .

Videos that have spread online show quite thick smoke north of Verkhnesadovoy. Before this, local residents were able to film the passage of cruise missiles, which were Storm Shadow or SCALP. Local occupiers traditionally reported a banal grass fire and said nothing about missiles.

As Defense Express notes, near this village there is a protected reserve command post of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which could become the target of a missile strike. This command post was created back in Soviet times, and during the annexation of Crimea in 2014, it was one of the first to be captured.

The command center has ground buildings, underground bunkers and an extensive antenna system for communication with the fleet and higher headquarters. Since this facility belongs to Ukraine, it is well known to the Ukrainian military.

“And despite the security of this kind of object for Storm Shadow, this is the purpose for which it was created. The fact is that the 450-kg warhead of the rocket consists of a leading cumulative charge, which forms a hole, and the main high-explosive fragmentation part, which explodes in middle,” notes Defense Express.

The publication recalls that Storm Shadow missiles were used to strike key protected sites in Iraq in 2003 and the bunker of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2012. These missiles also hit a chemical munitions plant in Syria in 2018 and an ISIS cave complex in Iraq in 2021.

“That is, these missiles can really destroy extremely protected objects. But in addition to the exact coordinates, which of course existed, and the means themselves, for an effective strike, of course, you need to know its exact time, because it’s easy to hit an object, or hit it while high-ranking officials are in it “persons are different things. And in this situation, we can only hope that all three factors come together,” the publication writes.

The fact that the strike was effective is evidenced by online reports that a column of fire engines and ambulances moved from Sevastopol to Verkhnesadovoy.

Strike at Verkhnesadovoy