On the night of August 22–23, units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces struck a number of Russian military facilities, including on the occupied Crimean peninsula. This was announced by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as reported by RBC-Ukraine. According to the agency, in Chornomorske district a launch and storage site for maritime unmanned surface vessels (USVs) came under fire, and nearby — a ground relay used to control strike drones of the 'Geran' and 'Gerbera' types. The General Staff emphasized that "work on the enemy's key military targets continues."
Targets in Crimea: the "eyes" of air defense and the drone control channel
Among the objects hit in Yevpatoria, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, is the ST-68 radar station — a component of a system that the Ukrainian side describes as one of the "eyes" of the Russian air defense and anti-drone complex. At the same time, in Dzhankoy a stock of the enemy's material and technical assets was hit, while in the areas of Dzhankoy and Kadiivka (Luhansk region) — repair units of the Russian forces. The combined set of such targets, in Kyiv's logic, is aimed at reducing the enemy's ability to detect, track, and service its equipment and drones.
Strikes beyond the peninsula
In addition to Crimea, during the night operations of August 22–23, according to the same General Staff statement, an object in the settlement of Chayki in Russia's Belgorod region was hit. Thus, strike operations were carried out along several directions at once — from the peninsula's coastal infrastructure to rear and repair links on the mainland. The agency does not disclose the type of munitions used, limiting itself to a list of the targets hit.
Operation "Crimean Switch Off": cumulative effect
The night strikes fit within a broader campaign that the Ukrainian side links to Operation "Crimean Switch Off." As part of this operation, between August 17 and 22, units of the Special Operations Forces hit 27 energy nodes in occupied Crimea and southern Ukraine. In total, according to the General Staff, since the start of the operation — from July 1 to August 22 — 267 energy infrastructure objects have been taken out of service. It should be emphasized that these figures are cited exclusively with reference to the Ukrainian military command.
Contradictory data
When cross-checking the versions, the chronology should be taken into account. Some publications, in particular a charter97.org article, are dated August 19 and describe a separate, earlier episode: a strike on a relay for 'Geran' drones, a bridge, and three drone warehouses. These events are not identical to the night strikes of August 22–23, and it is incorrect to merge them into a single picture — they concern different dates and, presumably, different objects. Moreover, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces explicitly states that the extent of the damage inflicted and the results of the strikes are "still being clarified." This means that the list of targets and the assessments of their condition may be revised, and the enemy has not publicly confirmed either the fact of all the claimed hits or the scale of the damage.
Damage assessment and status of the information
At the time of preparing this material, independent verification of the claimed hits (including the ST-68 radar, the relay, and the USV storage site) by third parties had not been conducted, and no official comments from Russian authorities on the specific targets have been recorded in the open sources used for verification. Therefore, the details set out below should be regarded as statements by one of the parties to the conflict, which require further fact-checking as confirmations become available.
