Kyiv announced Saturday that an explosion occurred at the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the port city of "Sevastopol" in the Crimea, while Washington announced that it would provide Ukraine with hundreds of advanced anti-tank missiles.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry published scenes that it said were smoke from the explosion, which was accompanied by the launch of anti-aircraft missiles.

For its part, the Russian "TASS" news agency reported that a drone attacked the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the Crimea without causing any damage.

And the US network NBC News quoted a Ukrainian official as saying that pro-Ukrainians were involved in the recent wave of bombings at Russian military sites in Crimea.

The official also said that the administration of US President Joe Biden had not placed any restrictions on Ukraine launching strikes in Crimea using long-range weapons provided by the United States, such as the HIMARS missile system.

The US official added that his country does not encourage or discourage Ukraine from launching attacks in the Crimea, and that the choice of targets for military strikes is up to it, as he put it.

A Russian warship during a previous military parade in the port of Sevastopol (Reuters)

tank hunter

In the same context, a senior official in the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) said that his country will provide Ukraine with 1,500 "TOW" anti-armor missiles, nicknamed "Tank Hunter", and a thousand Javelin missiles, and that the new aid to Ukraine includes 16 "105 mm" cannons and 36 A shell.

He revealed that the Biden administration has provided Ukraine with military aid worth $10.6 billion, and that it will also provide it with HARM anti-radar missiles, and additional military aid worth $775 million, and that the new military aid to Kiev includes ammunition for HIMARS launchers.

It is noteworthy that the TOW missiles, which Washington announced its intention to supply Kyiv with, are American anti-armor and anti-tank missiles, which entered service in 1970, and are present in the armies of a number of Western and Arab countries, and returned to the fore with their use by the armed opposition against the attacks of the Syrian regime forces backed by Russia. .

Russia has previously expressed its concern about Washington's supplying the Syrian opposition and Kurdish fighters with TOW anti-tank missiles (Anatolia)

New generations of the TOW missile have been developed, and it has a range of about 4 kilometers, and is mounted on armored vehicles or SUVs and on mobile platforms, and it carries warheads weighing between 3 and 6 kilograms, and is controlled by a wired guidance system.

The ability of the TOW missile to penetrate armor has moved from 430 mm thick to 900 mm thick in its new advanced generations, as is the case of the second-generation TOW missile, BGM-71E-3B, which some Estimates put it at about $30,000.

The missile can be launched from moving or stationary vehicles or even helicopters, and 3 missiles can be launched in just 90 seconds.

chemical weapon

On the other hand, the Russian Defense Ministry accused the Ukrainian forces of using toxic chemicals against Russian forces in the Zaporozhye region on July 31.

The ministry also said that its forces killed 20 of what it described as American mercenaries in an aerial bombardment in Kharkiv.

The ministry said those dead were among the more than 800 Ukrainian soldiers and militants who died in Russian military strikes on Friday.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu blamed the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for what Ukraine is witnessing today.

During his participation in a conference in the suburbs of Moscow, the minister indicated that Washington did its best after the collapse of the Soviet Union to turn Ukraine into a country hostile to Russia, as he put it.