Oct. 20, 2024, 10:03 p.m.
The Ukrainian Navy says that Russians are constantly keeping both aircraft and reconnaissance drones in the airspace of the temporarily occupied Crimea.
This was reported by the spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy Dmytro Pletenchuk during a telethon.
Pletenchuk also noted that the Russian occupation army uses all types of aircraft to patrol the Black and Azov Seas.
"The occupiers are patrolling the western part of the coast of the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula and, of course, the southern part using anti-drone helicopters. Aviation is involved to the maximum, you can see the entire available fleet: from rather slow propeller aircraft to frontline bombers," the spokesman said.
According to him, with the help of aviation equipment, Russian troops are trying to protect the remnants of their fleet, which is in the basing points, from possible attacks by drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as protect the illegally built Kerch bridge from attacks.
Earlier, Ukraine's Ambassador Anton Korynevych said in a speech in court in The Hague that the Kerch Bridge is illegal and must be dismantled.
"Russia now considers the Kerch Strait, the Sea of Azov and perhaps even parts of the Black Sea as its own waters. Russia wants these waters to be seen as part of its 21st century empire," the ambassador emphasized.
Also, Eskender Bariev , Chairman of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, noted that the occupiers are still transporting major military equipment using ferries and the Kerch Bridge.
Bariiev added that although Russian propaganda at the international level has always claimed that the Kerch Bridge is supposedly only a civilian object, it is very important for the invaders to constantly transport military equipment and personnel to the territory of Crimea.
Сергій Лозовський