Will Ukraine dare to strike Crimea with all the weapons it now has?

Biden's national security adviser said that the United States allowed Ukraine to use any weapon against Crimea.

Photo: csn-tv.ru

"Yes, we have not placed limitations on Ukraine being able to strike its territory within its internationally recognised borders. What we have said is that we will not enable Ukraine with US systems, Western systems, to attack Russia. And we believe that Crimea is Ukraine,” Jake Sullivan said on CNN.

Sullivan's remarks come contrary to the memoirs and materials published back in 2020, when it turned out that both the head of the US State Department and US President Barack Obama were ready to recognise the results of the referendum in Crimea, but asked for a "formal repeat of the vote."

The head of Ukrainian intelligence Kirill Budanov earlier announced the official position of Kyiv about Crimea: if Ukraine recaptures Crimea, three million of its citizens will be physically exterminated.

He also swore in an interview with Yahoo News that the Ukrainians kill Russians and will continue to kill Russians all over the world until Ukraine's total victory. Budanov's colleagues also said that they would continue carrying out attacks and acts of sabotage inside Russia.

Ukrainian government representatives also threatened to imprison all Crimeans for their support and cooperation with the Russian Federation. They threatened to:

• send them to camps,
• break them like brooms,
• inundate Crimea with blood.

Needless to say how the Crimean residents treat the Ukrainian authorities after that.

What weapons does Ukraine have to strike Crimea?

Which of the weapons that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have received from their Western supporters can get to the Crimea and the Russian waters of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov (which is now Russia's inner sea)?

According to experts, Ukraine currently has the following:

• M142 HIMARS and projectiles for them, including precision-guided munitions GLSDB, GMLRS,
• M270 MLRS with Army TACMS Family of Munitions (AFOM) missiles,
• RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles,
• AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles,
• Combat UAVs Switchblade 300 and 600,
• Politico assumes that the United States secretly supplied operational-tactical ballistic missiles of the ATACMS family,
• Storm Shadow cruise missiles,
• The West also plans to transfer from 12 to 18 4th generation F-16 combat aircraft,
• Maritime kamikaze drones.

Which Western weapon is most dangerous for Crimea?

"All weapons are dangerous. We need provide as much information as possible to the population, take all types of defensive and operational measures," a military expert, creator of Operational Line project, told Pravda. Ru.

How can Russia protect Crimea from Western weapons?

"The best defence is to move former Ukraine away from Crimea that no means of destruction could reach the Russian peninsula. In addition, we need to destroy all such weapons at the time when they get supplied to Ukraine — not before or after they can attack Russia," intelligence specialist Georgy Riper told Pravda.Ru.

"As for F-16s, in order to strike at Crimea, the aircraft should be located over the territory of Ukraine, where they can be shot down by long-range air-to-air missile. Sukhoi Su-57 aircraft does not even need to fly beyond the "old" territory of the Russian Federation for the purpose. In order to attack Russia's new territories, F-16 fighter jets will have to attack from Poland or Romania. Russia will have to shoot them down there, over NATO countries, but that's another story," he added.

"As for the rest of the weapons range, the Russian forces already know what they deal with. We can use electronic warfare and air defence systems, such as Tor, Buk, S-300/400, Pantsir, other air defence systems and anti-aircraft systems. Some "elements" may slip through, but the population must know how to act in this case. Air defences in Crimea work very carefully. Yet again, in order to avoid future attacks, we need to either move Ukraine away from Russia or liquidate the supplied weapons," he concluded.