There were more explosions targetting military facilities in Crimea, this time in the village of Mayskoye in what Russian authorities say was an “act of sabotage,” without naming the perpetrators.
Ukraine stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility for any of the blasts, including those that destroyed nine Russian planes at another Crimean air base last week.
Head of the Dzhankoi district administration Inna Fedorenko told TASS on Aug. 17, “Yes, everything is calm,” when asked if the blasts had stopped. She also clarified that the administration has not yet started assessing the damage.
The question to ask is how Russia will respond to these attacks. A hint might be a statement from a Crimean lawmaker who said the time is now to begin hitting Ukrainian decision-making centers. Crimean Parliament Speaker Vladimir Konstantinov is quoted by TASS that: “Investigators will establish the details of the Dzhankoi accident but it is already clear that ... the Kiev regime’s agents were ordered to step up their activities but since they are unable to do big things, they are doing minor harm,” Konstantinov wrote on Telegram. “In such a situation, targeting decision-making centers would be the most effective and timely measure.”
According to Konstantinov, Russia’s activities in Donbass are crucial for ensuring security in a situation where the Ukrainian authorities “will not hesitate ... to blow up the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.”
At the same time, Britain’s Guardian interviewed Zelenskyy’s adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, claiming Ukraine is engaged in a counteroffensive aimed at creating “chaos within Russian forces” by striking at supply lines deep into occupied territory. He said that there could be more attacks in the “next two or three months” similar to the Aug. 16 strikes. Podolyak said: “Our strategy is to destroy the logistics, the supply lines and the ammunition depots and other objects of military infrastructure. It’s creating chaos within their own forces.”
“So Russia has kind of taught everybody that a counteroffensive requires huge amounts of manpower like a giant fist and just go in one direction,” he said, but “a Ukrainian counteroffensive looks very different. We don’t use the tactics of the ‘60s and ‘70s, of the last century.” Even the Guardian comments that his remarks could be interpreted as an acknowledgment that Ukraine is struggling to carry out any large-scale offensive.
