Day 588: Ukrainian special forces land in Crimea, engage in combat with Russians

Ukrainian special forces landed in Crimea, engaged in combat with the Russians, and took sone losses, Ukraine’s defense intelligence says. Ukrainian drones hit a high-value Russian air defense system near Belgorod, in Russia. Russia will intensify nuclear threats as winter approaches, Zelenskyi says, citing intelligence reports.

Ukrainian special forces land in Crimea, engage in combat with Russians, take losses, Ukraine’s defense intelligence says

Ukrainian special forces landed in occupied Crimea and clashed with Russian soldiers. They completed the mission and returned, Main Intelligence Department of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said.

“Special units Stuhna and Bratstvo that are part of Tymur’s unit within the Main Intelligence Department of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry landed on the territory of the Crimean peninsula and inflicted fire on the Moscow occupiers!” Ukraine’s defense intelligence said in a statement.

“Crimea will be Ukraine! Glory to Ukraine!” it added. A video released by Ukrainian defense intelligence shows boats moving toward the coast. 

Defense intelligence did not specify when exactly the raid happened. Representative of the Main Intelligence Department of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry Andriy Yusov told Ukrainska Pravda that Ukrainian special forces completed the mission, inflicted losses on the Russians and retreated, despite taking some losses too. 

“There was a clash with Russian occupying forces. They have a lot of killed and wounded. Unfortunately, there are also losses among our Ukrainian defenders, but they are not commensurate with the Russians,” Yusov said.

“We continue the operation to de-occupy Crimea. We call on the residents of the peninsula to wait for [Ukraine’s] defense forces and help them in every possible way to recapture Ukrainian territory,” he added.

Ukrainian drones hit high-value Russian air defense system near Belgorod

Drones operated by Ukraine’s Security Service took out a Russian S-400 Triumph air defense system in Russia’s Belgorod region, sources in the service told media.

Overnight on October 4, drones hit an S-400 air defense system near Belgorod. The system costs USD 1.2 billion, the source told Ukrainska Pravda.

Videos posted by the Russians show about 20 explosions at the location of the Triumph system and its radar. At the same time, neighboring towns lost power.

Russia to intensify nuclear threats as winter approaches, Zelenskyi says, citing intelligence reports

Russia will intensify nuclear threats as winter approaches, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi told Italian news channel Sky TG24, citing Ukrainian intelligence reports. 

“A show of nuclear force is not a sign of strength, but of weakness. It shows that other methods, like diplomacy or performance on the battlefield, failed. Russia has lost this war, lost from the very beginning. They wanted no diplomacy, instead, they wanted to fully destroy Ukraine’s independence within days or weeks,” Zelenskyi said. 

“The world should be ready as Russia will make more nuclear threats. As winter approaches, more threats are to come,” Zelenskyi said, citing Ukrainian intelligence reports. 

Russia has no interest in peace initiatives. Agreements that Putin makes are destined to be later broken by him, Zelenskyi said, citing the grain deal as an example.