In response to Operation Spiderweb that the Ukrainians carried out against the Russians, an initial response came from Moscow, but spread over the course of a week. In fact, many Ukrainian infrastructures, especially energy and industrial ones, were hit.
The main points of intervention of the Russian armed forces were in the western regions of Ukraine: industrial plants in Lutsk and Ternopil and an airport in Dubno were hit.
In the central regions, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Bila Tserkva Kiev with its suburbs, Cherkasy and Chernihiv were attacked.
In the Black Sea region, the port infrastructures of Odessa and Mykolaiv were attacked, as well as the Snake Island.
In the north, incidents were recorded in Chernihiv, Shostka, Nizhyn, Konotop and Pryluky.
In the east, arrivals were recorded in Myrhorod, Poltava, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, Pavlohrad and Kharkiv.
The largest number of weapons were used by the Russian Aerospace Forces and Rocket Forces of Moscow on June 1, 6 and 9. June 9 to be precise was the day when Russian troops attacked Snake Island and its hydrocarbon platforms. According to some reports, Kh-22 cruise missiles were used.
Snake Island is a piece of land in the Black Sea that has long been disputed between Russia and Ukraine. It is an island in the Black Sea located 35 km from the coasts of Ukraine and Romania and last year on June 30 it was abandoned by the Russian garrison after several Ukrainian attacks and returned to Kiev’s control.
And on June 9 the Russians bombed the island but more specifically they hit one of the facilities that is part of the Boyko Towers, a platform for the extraction of hydrocarbons. On September 13, 2023 the Ukrainians regained control of the towers; their statement was: “A unique operation to restore control over the ‘Boyko Towers’ was carried out by the units of the Gur (intelligence service, ed.) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. In particular, the drilling platforms ‘Petro Godovalets’ and ‘Ukraine’, as well as ‘Tavrida’ and ‘Sivash’, were brought back under our control”.
The towers are located in the Black Sea south of Odessa, about a hundred kilometers from the Ukrainian mainland, between the famous Snake Island and Crimea. They are important from a strategic, economic and security point of view, both for Ukraine and Russia. They allow to control the sea area and partially the sky in this sector.
According to the Russians, the towers have been used – according to their sources – by units of the Central Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine in the framework of their operations in the Black Sea region since the Russian troops left the island. A post on the Russian social sphere reads: “There is reconnaissance equipment, a forward command post from which GUR units monitor BEKs and landing groups.” The Russians have zeroed in on the Tavrida drilling platform. In Russian chats it says: “The platform is located near the Zmeiny Island in the Black Sea and serves as a forward base during Ukrainian attacks on facilities in Crimea.”
According to rumors, the attack on the towers involved the Navy Special Forces Unit “Hispaniola” created specifically by the Russian Navy to respond to military threats in maritime spaces.
Graziella Giangiulio
Follow our updates on Geopolitical Gleanings - Spigolature geopolitiche: https://t.me/agc_NW and on our blog The Gleanings of AGCNEWS - Le Spigolature di AGCNEWS: https://spigolatureagcnews.blogspot.com/
