An interesting trend, perhaps under pressure from the U.S. government, or to get the new aid bill passed in the House of Representatives, or perhaps the Ukrainian military has changed its strategy, in short, we don't know why: the Ukrainian army seems to have stopped attacking Russian oil refineries, and has instead begun to launch frequent long-range attacks on Russian military facilities behind the front line, and they continue to succeed, which may even be related to the intelligence support provided by the military of the United States and other countries.
Multiple sources, including the Russian media RosSMI, show that on April 17, local time, the Ukrainian army successfully attacked the Zhankoy airbase in Crimea, and suspected pictures of the scene have appeared on the Internet, showing that at least 1 S-400 air defense system was hit.
More information shows that the Ukrainian army launched two American-made ATACMS ballistic missiles, the first missile destroyed the radar and 3 launchers of the S-400 air defense system, and the second missile hit two S-300 air defense systems of the 77th Air Defense Brigade of the Russian Army (Unit 55742 of the Krasnodar Territory) and caused the detonation of ammunition. In addition, it is likely that maintenance facilities will also be affected.
The "Telegram" channel "Crimean Wind" claims that the Russian army is transporting the wounded by helicopters, and after the attack by the Ukrainian army, about 30 people were killed and about 80 injured at the Zhankoy airbase, and various types of warplanes deployed at the Zhankoy base have been transferred to the Kirovskoye base.
Zhankoy airbase is the headquarters of the Russian Southern Military District, where 1 helicopter regiment and 3 aviation squadrons are stationed, and earlier satellite pictures show that before the Ukrainian army launched the attack, a large number of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft were stationed at Zhankoy airbase, including Mi-28 and Ka-52, but the main purpose of the Ukrainian army's attack seems to be only the S-400 and S-300 long-range air defense systems at the Zhankoi base, and these aircraft do not seem to have been affected.
At present, we do not know some details of the Ukrainian army's attack on the base in Zhankoy, such as the purpose, according to the past, after the Ukrainian army attacked the Russian air defense system in Crimea, there will generally be a larger-scale long-range strike, targeting Russian military facilities in Crimea. In addition, some Russian military bloggers claimed that before and after the attack, there was a US RQ-4B "Global Hawk" drone flying over the Black Sea south of Crimea, whether it was performing other tasks or monitoring the Ukrainian army's attack on the Zhankoi base, or even whether it provided support for the Ukrainian army's attack, we do not know.
At the first time of the attack on the Zhankoy base, there was information that the Ukrainian army was using "land-launched small-diameter bombs" (GLSDB) launched by "Hippocampus" or M270 rocket artillery, but soon, the information was clarified as ATACMS ballistic missiles.
This is not the first time that the Ukrainian army has used American-made ATACMS ballistic missiles to attack Russian airfields, in fact, for now, ATACMS ballistic missiles are also the only weapons in the hands of the Ukrainian army suitable for attacking such targets: compared to "Storm Shadow" / "Scarp-EG" Cruise missiles or suicide drones, ATACMS ballistic missiles are equipped with cluster warheads, have 950 M74 dual-purpose submunitions, suitable for attacking large targets such as airfields, in October last year, the Ukrainian army used ATACMS ballistic missiles to attack the Russian army's helicopter airfield in Berdyansk, destroying more than 20 helicopters, including Ka-52.
However, we have a question, and the inquiry learned that the attacked Zhankoy airbase is far away from the front line of the Ukrainian army, and even the most recent data shows that it is more than 170 kilometers, and the maximum range of the early-type ATACMS ballistic missiles that the US government has provided to Ukraine is 165 km, and public reports show that the US government has not yet provided Ukraine with late-stage ATACMS ballistic missiles with a maximum range of 300 km, so how did the Ukrainian army do it? In our view, this is likely to be related to the Pentagon's long-standing practice that U.S.-made weapons are actually better than on paper, and that, contrary to Russia, the maximum range of the early ATACMS ballistic missiles may not be 165 kilometers, but even longer.