Home › Opinion › What the Crimea strikes of 31 October 2023 showed
What the Crimea strikes of 31 October 2023 showed
Summary
A look back at reported Ukrainian strikes on Crimea and the drone claims that preceded them.
What did Ukraine's reach into Crimea look like on 31 October 2023? As reported at the time, Ukraine launched airstrikes on the peninsula that day and destroyed a Russian S-300 missile system near Yevpatoria.
The strike did not come out of nowhere. On 29 October 2023, Russia said it had shot down 36 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and Crimea. Taken together, the two reports show Crimea as a repeated target within a few days: first a large drone wave, as Russia described it, then a reported hit on air defence equipment.
The choice of target is worth noting. An S-300 is a missile system, and the report of its destruction near Yevpatoria concerns a specific piece of Russian military equipment rather than a general claim of attacks on the peninsula.
The two accounts also come from different sides. The 29 October figure was Russia's own claim about drones it said it had downed, while the 31 October report described Ukraine's airstrikes and their result. Read together, they give a partial but telling picture of the pressure on Crimea in the final days of that month.
