Crimea. The second phase

After the attack on the Kerch bridge on July 17, the Ukrainian army began an operation to destroy the rear and logistical chains of the Russian occupiers.

On August 2, in the village of Sarabuz (Gvardiyske), located 13 km from Simferopol in Crimea, multiple explosions rocked the area. Video footage circulating on social media suggested that the explosions occurred near a military base. This particular village houses the "Gvardiyske" air base, home to the 37th mixed aviation regiment of the Russian Federation. The result of these explosions was damage to two hangars.

August 1st marked the destruction of Russian occupiers’ positions on Dzharylgach Island, situated to the northwest of Crimea. The strikes were executed using M142 HIMARS artillery missile systems. The Center for Journalistic Investigations, citing its sources, reported approximately 65 wounded Russian soldiers evacuated to the hospital in Skadovsk. The head of the President's Office confirmed the Ukrainian army's operation on the largest Black Sea island, sharing a video on social media.

The Russian Telegram channel "Military Informer," while commenting on the obliteration of the occupiers' positions, criticized the Russian command, inadvertently affirming the success of the Ukrainian operation to its more than half a million Z-audience.

On August 1st, a powerful explosion rocked the village of Saharna Golovka, located not far from the occupied Sevastopol. This area houses warehouses containing military equipment and ammunition, specifically within the Kara-Koba Valley. According to an OSINT analyst using the nickname "Status-6," these facilities are attributed to the 758th Logistics Center of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation.

Razvozhaev, the head of the occupation in Sevastopol, confirmed the incident in the Kara-Koba valley. In a familiar pattern, the Gauleiter attributed the explosive phenomenon, visible even from the distant Bakhchysarai reservoir, to a "grass that just caught fire."

On that same morning, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported a "successful repulsion" of a drone attack on the patrol ships "Sergey Kotov" and "Vasily Bykov" of the Black Sea Fleet. However, information from anonymous sources revealed that Russian sailors had requested evacuation for the injured. The evacuation operation involved a Ka-29 helicopter. This information was disclosed by the Babel publication, which published a purported conversation recording between the rotorcraft's crew and the Russian sailors requiring evacuation.

On July 29, the Ukrainian Defense Forces reported a successful attack on the Chongar railway bridge, a crucial link connecting the mainland to the peninsula and leading to Melitopol. Photographic evidence confirmed the damage inflicted on the railway track.

July 30 brought news of the bombing of the Chongarsky and Armyansky bridges. Military expert Tom Cooper confirmed the success of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, referring to it as "the resurgence of Ukrainian Su-24s."

An Austrian analyst posited that the simultaneous disabling of three strategically vital bridges severed Russian supply routes to the occupied regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia for at least a week. Furthermore, Russian warehouses near Melitopol and Tokmak sustained considerable damage.

On July 25, Crimean sources reported a missile strike on the occupiers' military arsenal in the village of Kara-Chakmak (Krasna Polyana), 40 km from Dzhankoy. According to local accounts, the missile struck a farm where Russian military equipment and weapons were stored. Subsequently, the Storm Shadow missiles struck the Russian Federation's repair battalion, causing significant damage.

A day prior, an explosion rocked the military airfield of the Black Sea Fleet, "Vesele," located in the village of Freileben (Vilne) in northern Crimea. Gauleiter Aksyonov acknowledged the incident, leading to the evacuation of the local population in the Dzhankoy district.

Later, Crimean partisans reported the destruction of a batch of P-800 "Onyx" missiles, which the occupiers had been using to shell Odesa and Mykolaiv for several days. The cost of one Onyx missile stands at approximately 1.3 million dollars.

After the successful destruction of the Russian army's oil depot and warehouses at the Buyuk-Onlar (Oktyabrske) airfield on July 22, satellite images revealed several smoking objects in the affected area, published by the Deep State project.

On July 19, the Islam Terek (Kirovsky) district experienced a literal inferno. Following strikes on the occupiers, weapons, and ammunition at the Starokrymsky training ground detonated for over three hours.

Natalya Gumenyuk, spokesperson for the "South" Operational Command, highlighted that the strikes on the bridges had disrupted Russian logistics through Crimea. Consequently, the occupiers resorted to utilizing ferry crossings, significantly complicating the transportation of Russian equipment and cargo.

An article in The Times discussed the Ukrainian fighters' ascendancy to key positions, attributing it in part to the successful strikes by the Armed Forces on ammunition depots in the rear. British analyst Michael Clark characterized this as the conclusion of the first phase of the Ukrainian counteroffensive and the onset of the second phase.