Russia stores 800 missiles in Crimea to attack Ukraine in winter: Kyiv

Kyiv, Nov 16 (EFE).- Russia is storing on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, occupied by Moscow since 2014, more than 800 missiles that it plans to use to attack Ukraine’s energy system this winter, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

Nataliya Gumenyuk, Ukrainian southern command press chief, made the announcement in a television appearance in Ukrainian.

“We are talking in total about more than 800 missiles prepared to be used by the enemy in the stage of energy terror,” said Gumenyuk, citing information from the country’s military intelligence.

Chief among the missiles on Crimea – from which Russia launches many of its air attacks – are the Kalibr cruise missiles and the Onyx supersonic missiles.

Ukraine does not have air systems capable of intercepting supersonic missiles over most of its territory.

With the exception of the capital Kiev, where Ukraine has built a sophisticated modern air defense architecture with the best systems received from the West, the country is generally vulnerable to supersonic Russian missiles such as the Onyx or Kinzhal.

Last year, Russia carried out a massive campaign of airstrikes against Ukrainian thermal and electrical networks that left millions of Ukrainians without light and heat in the coldest time of the year.

Kyiv has been warning for weeks that Russia is stockpiling missiles to repeat the campaign this winter when temperatures drop below zero. EFE

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