Exclusive satellite images show destroyed aircraft and damaged buildings at Crimea base

(CNN) — Satellite images obtained exclusively by CNN show three destroyed Russian planes and damaged buildings at Belbek airport in the captured port city of Sevastopol on Wednesday.

The damage follows two days of attacks by Ukrainians against Sevastopol in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

In photos taken by US satellite imaging company BlackSky and space technology firm Maxar, two burnt-out jets can be seen on Belbek’s main flight line, with a third parked on a protective embankment. Satellite images show that a nearby building was destroyed and another building was significantly damaged.

Mikhail Razvozev, the Russian-appointed governor of Sevastopol, said Friday on Telegram that the Russians “successfully repelled a major enemy attack on Sevastopol.” Razvozaev said “dozens” of unmanned aerial vehicles and “more than five marine drones were destroyed.” He said there was a partial blackout in the city due to drone debris falling on an electrical substation.

This is the second time in the last 48 hours that Belbek has been targeted by Ukrainians.

Asked about a possible Ukrainian attack on Belbek, Ukrainian military southern spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said on Thursday: “We cannot declare any details at this time because there is no verified information at this time.” CNN has contacted the Ukrainian military for an update.

Atesh, a Ukrainian rebel group in Crimea, claimed on Telegram after the second attack that an artillery warehouse at Belbek airfield was damaged.

“There was also significant damage to the airfield infrastructure as a result of the secondary explosion,” he said.

But none of the satellite images seen by CNN showed any indication that the missile or artillery weapons depot was attacked, or that a secondary explosion occurred.

Although Moscow has been increasingly dominant in its land operations recently, Kiev’s military has seen continued success in attacking the Russian Black Sea Fleet with missiles or drones.

In March, Ukraine claimed to have attacked two Russian warships, a communications center and other facilities belonging to the Black Sea Fleet in a massive attack overnight. Ukraine said the ships attacked were two amphibious landing ships, Yamal and Azov.

More than 20 Russian warships have been disabled or destroyed, a third of the entire fleet. Although Ukraine has virtually no navy of its own, Russian technological innovation, audacity and incompetence have given it an advantage over much of the Black Sea. In October last year, satellite images showed that Russia had moved some of its warships away from Sevastopol after a series of Ukrainian attacks.

Russia’s advance in Ukraine

The attack on Belbek comes as Russia advances into northeastern Ukraine, forcing President Volodymyr Zelensky to postpone his participation in all international events in the coming days while his troops defend against a surprise attack in the Kharkiv region.

The offensive is the most serious cross-border ground offensive since Ukraine recaptured the Kharkiv region in late summer 2022. This comes as the Ukrainians are fighting with small armies, inadequate artillery and air defenses, while waiting for much-needed ammunition and weapons from a long-delayed $2 billion US military funding package.

Russian forces have taken control of more than nine cities near the border since Moscow began the offensive. The city of Vovchansk, about 60 kilometers northeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, is the site of some of the most intense fighting.

However, NATO believes Russian troops do not have the troops needed for a “strategic” advance into Kharkiv, a senior commander of the military alliance announced on Thursday.

Gen. Christopher Cavoli, the supreme allied commander in Europe, told a news conference in Brussels that although the Russians have “the ability to make local advances,” they do not have “the capability and capacity to do so on a larger scale.” ” It is essential to exploit any advance with a strategic advantage.

Zelensky met senior military commanders in Kharkiv early Thursday. He described an “extremely difficult” picture for Kiev’s troops on the ground, where they are reinforcing units, he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday and the two pledged to deepen their strategic partnership in a clear sign of their growing rapprochement.

The Russian economy has become increasingly dependent on China since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and a comprehensive joint statement called for rapprochement between their countries on a range of issues, including energy, trade, security and geopolitics, with specific reference to Ukraine. Has been done

CNN’s Radina Gigova, Maria Kostenko, Alex Hardy and Simon McCarthy contributed to this report.