Russia maneuvers with missiles during joint Ukraine and US drills

MOSCOW – Navy Russia maneuvers with its missiles off the coast of Crimea in the Black Sea, Thursday. The target’s missile action took place at Ukraine and the United States (US) held joint combat exercises.

Russia’s Defense Ministry says its military uses the Bastion coastal missile defense system.

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The exercises in Ukraine involving US and other NATO forces will run until October 1, 2021. The drills follow massive war games held by Russia and Belarus earlier this month that alarmed the West.

Kiev’s relations with Moscow plunged to their lowest level in 2014 after Russia was seen as annexing the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine and supporting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region. The seven-year conflict with the separatists has killed more than 13,000 people.

The Russian Ministry of Defense, as reported by Reuters, Friday (9/24/2021), said the Russian Black Sea Fleet practiced detecting and destroying marine targets with its Bastion system, an advanced mobile anti-ship and surface-to-surface defense system.

Video footage released by the ministry showed a division seen carrying out an attack with a truck-mounted missile in a simulated attack. Crews fire from hidden positions and use drones to track groups of enemy ships.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the Bastion missile system can hit sea targets at a distance of 350 km (219 miles) and land targets at a distance of 450 km (281 miles).

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