Reports, including those from Anton Gerashchenko, former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, suggest that Ukraine may be deliberately targeting Russian air defense systems.
On X, he wrote on October 30th: “Ukrainian forces have destroyed a Russian strategic air defense facility on the temporarily occupied western coast of Crimea. Ukrainian defenders had already destroyed an S-400 air defense system in the currently occupied Luhansk on October 25th.”
In a post on October 31st, Gerashchenko wrote: “Some Russian Telegram channels are reporting that it was an S-300 air defense system (referring to the attack on October 30th). According to these channels, it was damaged (the extent of the damage is not known).”
These reports have not yet been independently verified or confirmed. Therefore, they should be regarded with caution. In times of war, it can be advantageous for parties involved in the conflict to deliberately spread misinformation to either strengthen their own position or weaken that of their opponent.
Image: kremlin.ru, 2018 inauguration of Vladimir Putin 53, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (image size modified)
