CinC Syrskyi says liberating Crimea “realistic”

Syrskyi spoke in an interview with The Guardian, Ukrinform reports.

“It’s realistic. Of course, it’s a big military secret,” the general said when asked whether it is possible for Ukraine to liberate the temporarily occupied Crimea.

He said that Ukraine will do everything possible to reach the internationally recognized borders of 1991.

Due to Russia's aerial and air defense superiority, Ukraine is increasingly employing drones, Sirskyi said. According to the top commander, the Ukrainian army fights "not by quantity but quality", while drones play "as big a role as artillery".

He emphasized the successful use of long-range kamikaze drones to strike targets deep inside Russia. Ukrainian UAVs attacked "about 200 critical infrastructure sites" in the Russian Federation connected with "military logistics", including factories, fuel dumps and munition depots. At the same time, according to Syrskyi, naval drones have sunk about a third of Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet.

“It really became a trap for them and for some [vessels] a grave,” Syrskyi said.

The commander-in-chief added that the Kremlin was forced to "completely pull out" from the Crimean port of Sevastopol, after a series of Ukrainian attacks that have wiped out Russian radar and rocket installations. However, Syrskyi declined to say when Ukraine plans to destroy the Crimea Bridge connecting the occupied peninsula with Russia.

In the interview, the commander-in-chief also emphasized that F-16 fighter jets will strengthen Ukrainian air defense capabilities, allowing Kyiv to shoot down Russian missiles more effectively and hit enemy ground targets more accurately. At the same time, he noted that these warplanes have certain limitations as they must remain "40 km or more" from the front line because of the risk Moscow would shoot them down.

When asked, when Ukraine might be able to win the war, Syrskyi said one must be “very, very brave” to say when.

"We do everything to make it happen. There is simply no more important task for us. (…) We have to win (…) to liberate our citizens who are in the occupied territories, who are suffering," the Commander-in-Chief noted.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, CinC Sirskyi said the Russian army had made no significant progress on the battlefield, referring to the enemy's successes as tactical gains rather than operational breakthroughs.