The war in Ukraine has entered a critical period, and Zelensky has also canceled his plans to visit abroad due to the outbreak of major fighting in Kharkiv. Ukrainian media reported that Zelensky's Russian army's offensive in Kharkiv Oblast and the Donbas region canceled visits to Spain and Portugal. And US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's surprise visit to Kyiv also brings suspense to the next phase of the war. Outside comments say that what the Ukrainian army urgently needs now is weapons and ammunition, because only by solving this basic problem can we talk about the next step.
In Kharkiv, Chasov Yar and Avadiivka, the Ukrainian army has almost no anti-aircraft weapons to use, so it cannot cope with the air strikes of the Russian Air Force and counter the fire suppression of Russian artillery. Under the suppression of Russian air power (bombers and helicopters), the Ukrainian ground forces are not even able to carry out mobile rotations, and the long-term pressure of the battlefield environment has caused many Ukrainian soldiers to have a mental breakdown. Organized flight or surrender was commonplace on the front lines.
The Ukrainian military has been emphasizing to the United States and the West the importance of military assistance in the current course of the war. In order to prove their point, the Ukrainian military has focused on increasing the propaganda of the achievements of the "Hippocampus" rocket launcher to prove its commitment that "as long as there are advanced weapons, they will definitely play an important role". After the arrival of the US-aided ATACMS ballistic missiles, combined with the Ukrainian "Hippocampus" rocket artillery system, they have already caused many heavy losses to Russia. In the early hours of this morning, the strategic airfield on the Crimean peninsula was again attacked by Ukrainian artillery tactical ballistic missiles and suffered heavy losses.
The Russian side confirmed that at 2-3 a.m. on May 15, the Ukrainian army attacked the Belbek military airfield in Crimea using ATACMS ballistic missiles. Video footage shows that although the S400 missiles deployed by Russia on the Crimean peninsula were intercepted by air defense, the ballistic missiles launched by Ukraine hit key areas of Belbek airport. Satellite photographs prior to the attack showed at least 10 Su-27/30, 4 MiG-31s, 1 Su-25, 6 MiG-29 and 3 L-39s, as well as 4 Mi-8 and 2 Ka-27/29 helicopters at Belbek airport.
It is also important to note that there are also 15 reinforced hangars at Belbeck Airport, and it is unclear what has been lost in these heavily guarded facilities. The "saturation attack" capability formed by multiple salvos of ATACMS ballistic missiles supplied by the United States cannot be cracked by the existing Russian air defense systems (the S400 anti-aircraft anti-missile system and the Pantsir-S1/2 close defense system).