Ukraine Attacks Force Russian Military Families To Relocate Off Crimea

If past Russian officials' behavior is any indication - Kherson being a useful example - when they begin to evacuate families it is generally a sign that rear echelon units, officials and then troops are likely to follow. 

Ukraine's concerted attacks on Crimean anti-air weapons have made the peninsula virtually indefensible. JL

Isabel Van Brugen reports in Newsweek:

The families of occupying Russian officials stationed in annexed Crimea are relocating from the Black Sea peninsula amid intensifying attacks by Ukraine's forces. Ukraine has ramped up its attacks on Crimea.  Occupying forces have already "relocated" part of the Black Sea Fleet to Novorossiysk, in Russia's Krasnodar Krai. "The families of Russian occupation officials and collaborators have left Crimea. They are not waiting for any holiday season, but are trying to save their lives."

The families of occupying Russian officials stationed in annexed Crimea are relocating from the Black Sea peninsula amid intensifying attacks by Ukraine's forces.

 

Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), was quoted by the local Telegram channel Crimean Wind as saying that while Crimea remains a crucial hub for Russian military logistics in the ongoing war, occupying forces have already "relocated" part of the Black Sea Fleet to Novorossiysk, in Russia's Krasnodar Krai.

The Russian flag waves in front of the Ukrainian military ship the Slavutich moored in the bay of Sevastopol on March 22, 2014. The families of occupying Russian officials stationed in annexed Crimea are relocating...  VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Russia has relocated many of its warships from annexed Crimea to Novorossiysk due to relentless Ukrainian attacks.

 

Satellite images from last October showed that Russia's fleet was fleeing from Sevastopol in Crimea to Novorossiysk. Ships were also heading to the Russian naval port in Feodosia further east on the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

More recent satellite images from April, shared by open-source intelligence OSINT researcher MT Anderson, appear to show that the Black Sea Fleet has largely abandoned its major Crimean naval bases.

 

"Some of the families of Russian occupation officials and collaborators also left Crimea. They are not waiting for any holiday season, but are trying to save their lives," Yusov said.

Ukraine has ramped up its attacks on Crimea as part of a push to reclaim the Black Sea peninsula, which was annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014.