For a week pro-Russian officials have been reporting unexplained explosions of military assets in Russian-occupied Mariupol, the UK Defense Ministry said in a Monday morning intelligence briefing.
UK intelligence has counted at least 14 explosion reports since Tuesday around Mariupol, which it says is almost 80 kilometers away from the front lines.
Sites caught in explosions include an ammo cache at an airport, two fuel deports, and a makeshift military base.
"Russia will likely be concerned that unexplained explosions are occurring in a zone it had probably previously assessed as beyond the range of routine Ukrainian strike capabilities."
UK Defense Ministry
"Russia will likely be concerned that unexplained explosions are occurring in a zone it had probably previously assessed as beyond the range of routine Ukrainian strike capabilities," assessed the UK Defense Ministry. "Although widely devastated earlier in the war, Mariupol is important to Russia because it is the. largest city Russia captured in 2022 that it still controls, and sits on a key logistics route.
The Ukrainian government has been lobbying Allies for longer-range munitions over the course of recent months. NATO states have been hesitant to acquiesce to Kyiv’s requests, fearing that strikes with sovereign Russian territory would lead to an escalation in the conflict.
While the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) requested by Kyiv has remained off the aid package lists, In early February, the US announced that it would be supplying Ukraine with ground-launched small-diameter bombs, which can strike targets 150 kilometers away.
Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder on Friday said that the most recent US aid package would contain additional ammunition for high mobility artillery rocket systems, additional 155mm artillery shells, munitions for laser-guided rocket systems, as well as drones and loitering munitions such as 600 Switchblade UAS.
Ukraine has previously utilized drones to strike deep within occupied Russian territory or even undisputed federation provinces. Such attacks with kamikaze aerial and naval drones have targeted as far as Black Sea Fleet bases in Crimea’s Sevastopol and Novorssiysk.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday reiterated Ukrainian claims to Crimea and all disputed territories occupied by Russia.
Mariupol resides within the Donetsk region claimed by pro-Russian separatists and annexed by Russia. It is strategically located on the Sea of Azov.