Strike one. Russian landing ships, and much more,  were taken out in a massive overnight operation  

that has left Russian sailors wracked with PTSD.  Strike two. The only oil refinery and export hub  

that Russia has in the Black Sea region burns, as  Ukraine strikes again and again against Russia’s  

Crimean infrastructure. As for strike three… That  may well be the complete end to Russian rule in  

Crimea. Russian sailors, and potential sailors,  are fleeing the peninsula like rats on a sinking  

ship as the de-occupation of the Black Sea begins.  On April 20, the news broke that one of Ukraine’s  

most secretive units had taken aim at a bunch  of targets in occupied Crimea. The clandestine  

“Ghosts” unit, which is part of Ukraine’s  Main Directorate of Intelligence, or HUR,  

had turned the Sevastopol Bay into a hellscape  for the Black Sea Fleet the night before,  

as a series of drone strikes rendered two  more ships from Putin’s fleet inoperable.  

The targets weren’t Russian missile carriers or  similar warships this time around. Ukraine has  

already taken out plenty of those types of ships,  and what Russia has left is being kept as far away  

from Crimea as possible due to the Kremlin’s  fear of Ukraine’s drones and missiles. Instead,  

the “Ghosts” took aim at a pair of Russian landing  ships that Putin has been using to ship cargo and  

soldiers from Crimea to the Ukrainian mainland.  The Project 775 Yamal was one of the targets.  

Built back in 1988, making it yet another piece  of Soviet-era equipment that Putin has decided  

is good enough for the Ukraine war, the ship is  capable of carrying 500 tons of cargo. That cargo  

can include troops and vehicles, by the way. As  for the second ship, that was the Project 1171  

Nikolai Filchenkov, which is even older than  the first vessel. Built in 1975, the landing  

ship has a capacity of 1,000 tons and can be  used for amphibious operations and assaults.  

You know…if Russia were able to launch anything  like that from the Black Sea. Both ships were  

idling in the harbor at the time the “Ghosts”  launched their attack. Now, HUR reports that they  

have been rendered completely inoperable by  Ukrainian drones. Not satisfied with taking out  

ships that Russia has been using to supply its  troops on the mainland, the Ghosts went deeper  

into Crimea. In addition to taking out the Russian  landing craft, the “Ghosts” also scored a direct  

hit against a Russian Podlet-K1 radar system.  With a range of between 10 and 300 kilometers,  

or 6.2 and 186 miles, the Podlet can track up  to 200 targets simultaneously and is able to  

keep up with incoming projectiles traveling at  speeds of 4,400 kilometers, or a little over  

2,700 miles, per hour. Russia needs systems like  these. They offer early warning of incoming drones  

and missiles, which, in theory, should allow  Russia to organize its air defenses to take out  

the incoming threat long before it touches down.  That didn’t happen on the night of April 19. The  

Podlet-K1 was destroyed by the very type of threat  that it is supposed to detect. And that failure,  

either of the Podlet-K1 or the air defense systems  that are supposed to trigger when the Russian  

radar detects a threat, has just cost Putin $5  million. You can probably add tens of millions  

of dollars to that figure for the pair of landing  ships that the “Ghosts” rendered inoperable. Oh,  

and just in case you’re skeptical about the  success of Ukraine’s most recent Crimean assault,  

HUR is one step ahead. It didn’t just say what it  did. It has the footage to prove it. Published on  

Telegram alongside the statement that revealed  what the “Ghosts” who go bump in the Crimean  

night had pulled off, that footage shows us the  perspective captured by several of Ukraine’s  

drones as they made their approaches. Within the  first 25 seconds of the video, we see a Ukrainian  

drone bear down on one of Russia’s landing  ships before it scores a direct hit. The view  

being captured by the drone fades in an instant  as it unleashes its explosive payload. Then,  

a second drone. A second ship. But the exact  same result. There is no sign of Russia's air  

defenses rattling off rounds or firing missiles  in any of this footage. It almost looks like the  

“Ghosts” had a clear shot at Russia’s vessels,  which is yet another indicator that Putin simply  

doesn’t have the equipment he needs to defend  Crimea properly. As it turns out, that clear  

shot is the result of a lot of hard work done  by Ukraine. And that’s a problem for Russia.  

Ukraine’s most recent attack in occupied Crimea  has highlighted a campaign of degradation that  

has shattered the defenses that Russia built up on  the peninsula. As the Kyiv Post points out, Crimea  

has served as a major logistics and naval hub for  Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, both during the Ukraine  

invasion and in the eight years that followed  Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.  

Most of the international community continues  to recognize Crimea as belonging to Ukraine,  

despite the Russian occupation and a referendum on  the peninsula’s future that was almost certainly  

illegitimate. Ukraine is now working on  de-occupying Crimea for good. Stick with us,  

because we’ll have a lot more to say about  Ukraine’s Crimean campaign later in the video.  

Before we get to that, Ukraine wasn’t done with  Russia’s Black Sea posture on April 19. As ships  

burned and radar systems revealed how useless they  really are, the situation escalated outside of  

Crimea. Another oil hub has been struck. And it’s  one that Ukraine has targeted before. In an April  

20 report, the Kyiv Post revealed that Ukraine has  been expanding its campaign against Russian oil,  

which is what led it to send its drones in  the direction of the Tuapse oil refinery and  

export hub. Important due to being the only Black  Sea export hub that Russia has, Tuapse isn’t in  

Crimea. It’s in the Russian region of Krasnodar  Krai, which lies to the east of Crimea and also  

happens to be home to the Novorossiysk port,  where Russia now stations most of the Black Sea  

Fleet after it fled from Sevastopol. This second  strike was confirmed by Ukraine’s General Staff,  

which also took to Telegram to share a few  pictures of the raging fires and the thick  

smog that now blankets one of Russia’s most  important refineries and export hubs. “…the  

Tuapse oil refinery in the Krasnodar Territory was  hit again. A strike on the tank farm was recorded,  

followed by a fire on the facility’s territory,”  Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed. It added an  

extra little morsel that has gone underreported,  which is that Ukraine’s drones also struck an oil  

depot in the occupied Crimea. The Hvardiiske oil  depot now burns as brightly as the refinery that  

likely provided the oil that was stored there,  and both strikes have combined to make it far more  

difficult to get fuel to the troops that it has  stationed in mainland Ukraine. More details come  

from United24 Media. It says that residents on the  ground have already been sending photos, videos,  

and reports to independent outlets, such as Astra.  The story is the same in all of these reports.  

Massive fires. Thick blankets of smoke. Several  fuel storage tanks in Tuapse are burning in the  

aftermath of a mass drone strike that Russia was  in no way prepared to counter. The fires in Tuapse  

are spreading, too. Up to 10 of the facility's  storage reservoirs have been affected by a blaze  

that encompasses a refinery that has an annual  processing capacity of 12 million tons of oil.  

This is a site that produces diesel that meets  the Euro-5 standards, which is why Tuapse has  

become Russia’s key Black Sea oil export hub. It  also makes fuel oils, aviation fuel, gasoline,  

and a host of oil products that Russia’s military  on the mainland needs for its assaults against  

Ukraine’s positions. In short, Tuapse is vital  for Russia. Ukraine knows that all too well,  

which is why it has struck this facility nine  times since Putin launched his invasion in  

2022. And one of those strikes happened to come  just days before the latest attack against the  

refinery. April 19 wasn’t isolated. It was part  of a classic Ukrainian double-tap. And this is  

exactly the kind of thing that we cover here at  The Military Show. We give you the full picture,  

not just the headlines. If you’re getting  the kind of insight that you need from us,  

remember to subscribe to the channel. Russia is  going to be furious about the April 19 Tuapse  

strike. Just three days before, it was dealing  with a different Ukrainian attack against the  

very same facility. Fuel tanks went up in flames,  and multiple explosions were recorded during this  

attack, which was of a large enough scale to  force authorities at the Krasnodar Airport to  

implement temporary flight restrictions. Kyiv Post  reveals that this initial strike caused a blaze so  

massive that it required over 150 firefighters and  other emergency personnel to extinguish. The looks  

on the faces of those firefighters would have  been priceless on April 19. Just as they thought  

they’d gotten the fire that Ukraine caused under  control, the buzzing of drones overhead revealed  

that they would have to do it all over again.  Tuapse is a target. And it looks like Ukraine  

is going to hit it over and over until Putin  gets the message that using his Black Sea oil  

export hub is a no-go. What we see with the Tuapse  strikes is that Ukraine is going deeper than ever  

in its dual strategy of booting Russia out of the  Black Sea and placing more pressure on Russia’s  

oil sector. Ukraine’s drones would have needed  to travel over or around Crimea to reach Tuapse.  

That’s unavoidable. What should be happening is  that Russia’s radar systems detect those drones,  

followed by air defenses shooting them out of  the sky. But that isn’t happening. Ukraine’s  

drones are both hitting Crimea and flying right  past it, which is a sign that some major gaps are  

developing in Putin’s peninsula defenses. As  for the oil, Ukraine has been hitting Russian  

oil for months now. However, it has ramped up its  strikes since the end of March, likely due to the  

U.S. temporarily lifting sanctions on Russian oil  exports in the wake of the mess that is going on  

in the Strait of Hormuz. Ukraine has responded to  that pause in sanctions with weeks of attacks that  

have left Russian oil export hubs and refineries  burning. The goal is twofold. First, as the Head  

of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, Kyrylo Budanov  points out, Ukraine wants to use these strikes to  

show that it still has plenty of cards to play as  peace negotiations are ongoing. Russia wants to  

craft the narrative that Ukraine is a spent force.  That’s hard to do when your ships are sinking,  

your radars are being destroyed, and your oil  infrastructure is burning due to Ukrainian  

drone strikes. Second, Ukraine wants to make sure  that Russia can’t profit anywhere near as much as  

Putin wants it to profit in the wake of the oil  price shocks that have resulted from Operation  

Epic Fury in Iran. Russia should be raking in the  oil cash right now. The blockade of the Strait of  

Hormuz has led to Russian Urals crude oil trading  at prices that were getting dangerously close to  

$100 per barrel just a few weeks ago. Strikes like  those we saw in Tuapse have been successful for  

Ukraine. According to The New Voice of Ukraine,  Russia’s burning oil terminals and refineries  

are costing it $100 million per day in oil money.  That’s all revenue that Putin expected to be able  

to tax so he could generate more cash for his war  machine. Instead, Russia now faces a monthly oil  

revenue black hole of $3 billion that will last  for as long as Ukraine decides to maintain the  

level of strikes against Russia's oil that we’ve  seen over the last few weeks. But let’s come back  

to Crimea and the Black Sea. Earlier, we told  you that everything that happened on April 19  

was all part of a larger Ukrainian campaign  to force through the de-occupation of the  

Crimean peninsula. Ukraine has realized it can’t  counter-invade that peninsula by land. It would  

be sending troops into chokepoints that make them  easy to bombard with artillery and airstrikes. So,  

Ukraine has been playing the long game. By  whittling away at Russia’s Crimean and Black  

Sea defenses, Ukraine is making the Crimean  Peninsula too hot to handle for many of the  

Russian people who have found their way to the  occupied territory. We’ve seen an interesting  

turnaround in how Russian people and soldiers have  treated Crimea since Putin invaded Ukraine. During  

the early years of the war, Crimea was seen as  something of a safe haven, at least when compared  

to the Ukrainian mainland, where the bulk of  the battle was raging. The peninsula was out  

of range of Ukrainian missiles and drones. Those  weapons were making their mark in the Black Sea  

at that point in the war. Eventually, we’d start  seeing what they could do in Crimea itself. Still,  

even as recently as January 2024, Business  Insider was reporting on entire platoons of  

Russian soldiers that were abandoning the front  lines and trying to flee to Crimea. The average  

Russian perception of Crimea was that it was  safe. Now…not so much. Just over a year later,  

Crimea has morphed from the place to flee to into  the place from which Russians run. An April 2025  

report published by RBC-Ukraine revealed that the  Ukrainian partisan group ATESH had discovered that  

Russian officers and their families were running  away from the annexed peninsula en masse. Panic  

reigned for senior officers of the Black Sea  Fleet, who were trying to get away as fast as  

they could. Of course, the average soldier based  in Crimea was thrown under the bus. All leave for  

the Russian army outside of the senior officers  had been canceled, and there were cover patrols  

on the streets keeping an eye out for everything  from deserters to potential saboteurs. The safe  

haven had become a danger zone. Russian rats  were starting to jump ship. This turnaround is  

a direct result of Ukraine’s campaign against the  occupying forces in Crimea. If a ground invasion  

isn’t possible, Ukraine is going to grind the  defenses that Putin has installed in Crimea into  

the ground. And in the process, it’s going to show  those living on the peninsula, be they Russian  

soldiers or civilians, that they should get out  as fast as they can. The sailors who’ve just  

gotten PTSD after watching two of their landing  ships get obliterated are just the start. Oh,  

and Russia is making things a whole lot worse.  A mass exodus from Crimea may be on the cards,  

as Russia may soon add to the woes that Ukraine  causes by forcing mobilization on those living  

in Crimea. That’s according to Dmytro Pletenchuk,  who is the spokesperson for the Ukrainian navy.  

Speaking to TSN English on March 23, he commented  on how Russia’s Southern Defense Forces are going  

to start involving mobilized Crimeans in direct  combat operations against Ukraine, starting  

on April 1. This is nothing new, Pletenchuk  claims, noting that there are already several  

hundred Crimean casualties in Russia’s war against  Ukraine. “As for the direct forced mobilization,  

well, it’s entirely expected. If it is already  happening in the occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia  

and Kherson, then why can’t it happen in Crimea  as well,” Pletenchuk adds. Let’s get this  

straight. Ukraine has already turned Crimea from  a safe haven into a danger zone for Russia. Now,  

Putin is doubling down by forcing mobilization  on people who had emigrated from Russia to help  

the Kremlin solidify its illegal hold over  the Crimean Peninsula. What does Putin think  

is going to be the result of this? It won’t be  long before it isn’t just officers trying to get  

as far away from Crimea as possible. Citizens and  reservists are going to want to get out of Dodge.  

And those who don’t will end up in Ukraine, where  they’ll inevitably be destroyed after arriving on  

the front lines. The point we’re making here is  simple: When there are fewer Russians in Crimea,  

Putin’s grip on the peninsula weakens. Ukraine  is capitalizing on this fact by turning Crimea  

into a gray zone within the Ukraine war. What  was supposed to be a source of strength for  

Russia has instead turned into one of Putin’s  greatest weaknesses. A strategic liability  

that is well within range of Ukraine’s  new generation of drones and missiles,  

and is simply going to be struck again and  again. The Kerch Bridge connecting Crimea  

to the Russian mainland has been proven  vulnerable by repeated Ukrainian strikes.  

The Black Sea Fleet is almost a non-factor in  the Black Sea. Russian air defense systems, oil,  

and military installations are being destroyed  in Crimea every week. What was once a base for  

all of Russia’s southern operations has become  a drain on Putin’s resources. New Eastern Europe  

says that Russia still has around 150,000 soldiers  stationed in Crimea. They’re waiting for a ground  

attack that isn’t going to come from Ukraine, and  they can’t head to the mainland because Ukraine  

is wrecking their ships. They’re functionally  useless. A defensive ground force stacked up  

against drones and missiles that they can’t stop.  Now, Russia is dealing with a catch-22 in Crimea.  

It has too much on the peninsula to defend, and  not enough of the types of resources it needs  

to protect the region’s most valuable targets.  Ukraine has been whittling away at air defenses,  

which has created the safe aerial corridors  needed for the types of attacks we saw on  

April 19. If Russia sends more defenses to  Crimea, it weakens its forces on the mainland.  

If it keeps those defenses inside Ukraine, Crimea  becomes more vulnerable with each drone strike.  

This is the genius of Ukraine’s strategy in  the Black Sea. Without sending in soldiers,  

it has weakened Putin’s hold on Crimea and the  Black Sea. Liberation doesn’t always have to  

involve troops overrunning defenses. It can come  as a result of a consistent campaign that drives  

out the very people who occupied the territory in  the first place. Ukraine’s long-range strikes have  

already driven the bulk of the Black Sea Fleet  out of the stretch of water that gives that fleet  

its name. In Crimea, each attack against ports and  military facilities, along with the oil fires that  

are visible from mainland Russia, sends a message.  Get out while you can. Ukraine isn’t going to  

stop. With mobilization looming, Putin may soon  find that more Russians start heeding that message  

than he would ever have expected. Ukraine’s  campaign of de-occupation doesn’t end with Crimea.  

On the mainland, and particularly in the south,  Ukraine is going about liberating its territory  

more traditionally. Massive territorial gains are  being made as Ukraine’s “active defense” strategy  

starts to pay dividends. Drones are liberating  Crimea. But on the ground in mainland Ukraine,  

it is soldiers, drones, and much more that are  taking territory, as you’ll discover if you watch  

our video. And if you enjoyed this video, make  sure that you subscribe to The Military Show  

so you don’t miss any of our analysis of  Ukraine’s latest victories against Russia.