According to the agency, Ukrainian forces targeted the airfield and successfully destroyed four S-400 launchers, three radar stations, a command post for air defense operations, and air space surveillance equipment Fundament-M. The total number of Russian military equipment, aircraft, and military personnel losses is still being determined.

Explosions were reported near the airfield in the early hours of April 17, with local Telegram channels publishing footage of a large-scale fire. Later the same day, President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukrainian forces had carried out the attack.

The local partisan group Atesh also claimed that the attack had hit Russian military equipment, as well as the command post.

This attack marks a continuation of Ukraine's recent efforts to target Russian military assets in Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. In mid-April, Ukraine reportedly launched a missile attack on a separate Crimean command post housing high-ranking Russian officials. (ILKHA)