The Ukrainian army has destroyed a rare Tor-M2DT air-defense system, a specialized Arctic variant, during a drone attack near the Belbek airbase in occupied Crimea.
The information was released by the Ukrainian forces themselves, who described the operation as one of the most complex recent actions against Russian military infrastructure on the peninsula.
According to Kyiv, the offensive was carried out by units of the Unmanned Systems Forces, which used attack drones to hit the system stationed near the Russian-controlled airfield.
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The Tor-M2DT, mounted on the two-section DT-30PM-T1 vehicle, is designed for extreme cold conditions and is normally employed to protect military and strategic installations in the High North. Even so, Moscow has deployed these units to Crimea in an attempt to reinforce air defenses after successive losses to long-range Ukrainian attacks.
Only the 80th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Northern Fleet operated this model. In 2020, Russia possessed 12 of these units, and only two destruction cases had been recorded — both in 2023, in the Kherson region.
Combined attack in Crimea destroys Russian drone depots in Saki
Parallel to the destruction of the Tor-M2DT in Belbek, the Ukrainian Navy, in coordination with special forces units, launched a combined attack on Russian targets in the temporarily occupied Crimea.
The operation began with FPV drones, which neutralized air-defense systems including Tor-M2 and Pantsir-S1, responsible for protecting the Saki airbase. After the initial suppression, attack drones advanced on Russian UAV storage facilities.
The video of the operation, released by the Ukrainian Naval Forces, shows the destruction of:
- the Russian aviation command-and-control center at the airbase;
- warehouses with Orion and Forpost UAVs;
- air-defense installations;
- and a ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft cannon mounted on a KamAZ truck, which reportedly attempted to shoot down the Ukrainian drones.
According to military analysts, the arrival of FPV drones in Crimea may have been carried out using a combination of naval drones and long-range-launched unmanned aircraft — although the details of the operation remain classified.
The footage also shows attack drones equipped with cameras and direct communication channels, allowing millimetric precision against sensitive structures at the airbase.
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Source and images: Militarnyi | Telegram @ukrainian_navy. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
