Mysterious and damaging explosions at a Russian air base far from the front lines in occupied Crimea were part of a combined attack involving a series of successful missile strikes meant to bring the consequences of Russia's war in Ukraine closer to home for the Russian people.
Many "average Russians" living in Russia and Russian-controlled areas don't know about the war in Ukraine.
The two military officials wrote in a post that the costs of the war are not so bad because of the distance.
There have been attempts to physically transfer the zone of hostilities to the temporarily occupied territory of the peninsula, most notably through a series of missile strikes on the air bases of the enemy.
The aim is to make these experiences even sharper and more tangible for the Russians and other occupied regions, despite the huge distance to the targets.
Wednesday's op-ed appears to mark the first public acknowledgement of not only Ukraine's involvement in the attack on the air base, but also the first official explanation of how the attack was executed.
The August 9 explosions at Russia's Saki Air Base sparked speculation of Ukrainian involvement even as Russia downplayed the incident.
Ukrainian officials did not take credit for the blasts that knocked out 10 Russian aircraft. The naval aviation elements of the Black Sea fleet were crippled.
Several unnamed Ukrainian officials made comments to the media.
The Washington Post reported that a Ukrainian government official said that the attack was carried out by special forces, while a Ukrainian presidential advisor said it was hit by local partisans.
A US official told the Post that it appeared that Ukraine had used a long-range weapon, but not one provided by the US, and a Ukrainian official told The New York Times that the explosions at the base were caused by a device made by Ukrainians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in August that officials needed to keep their own information.
Jeffrey Edmonds, a former CIA analyst and current Russia expert at the Center for Naval Analyses, told Insider that the damage at the base looked like a missile strike and that if Ukraine had carried out a long-range strike deep behind the lines, it would indicate that rear.
—Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 9, 2022
The attacks made the war real for people far away from the front lines.
He said that the picture of the people on the beach was the one that the Ukrainian military highlighted afterwards.
If Ukraine develops an ability to strike areas from which Russia could previously operate with impunity, this kind of capability, which may still be very limited if it's a new Ukrainian-developed capability, will likely impact Russians' feelings.
The lack of physical proximity ensures that the true Center of Gravity for the enemy is located there.
The need for the Russian leadership and society to support the war on Ukraine was emphasized by the Ukrainian officials.
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