Ukrainian attacks degraded coverage of Russian air defenses over Crimea region - British intelligence

The British Defense Ministry said this in an intelligence update published on X, Ukrinform reports.

According to the update, on January 4, Ukraine attacked Russian targets at the Saky airfield and Sevastopol.

"These attacks highly likely degraded the awareness and coverage of Russian air defenses over the Crimea region," the update said.

In response, Russia launched a number of missile attacks across Ukraine on January 8, targeting several cities, including Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhzhia.

This once again demonstrates the ineffectiveness of Russian air defenses in protecting key locations, despite their enhanced preparedness, the ministry said.

"The scale of the Russian response is likely indicative of the level of success achieved by the Ukrainian armed forces' actions of 4 January 2024," the ministry added.

On January 4, explosions rang out in Sevastopol and Yevpatoria. Russian Telegram channels reported a massive Ukrainian attack on Crimea.