Russia Stages Expansive Drills Off Crimea;US Responds With Bomber Mission

On 19 October 2021,Russia conducted expansive manoeuvres off the coast of Crimea,Ukraine,which Russia invaded and annexed in 2014.The drills,according to The Daily Mail,simulated an invasion.More than 40 warships;more 30 military aircraft;and some 20 helicopters took part in the occupation scenario.Missile launches;bombing runs;and amphibious landings left little to the imagination.In the past two decades,Russia has seized territory from both Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia.It has also sponsored many attacks by its proxy forces in Eastern Ukraine and recently staged massive troop movements along Ukraine's borders,intimidating its smaller neighbour.* On 21 October,two US Air Force B-1B Lancer strategic bombers supported by two KC-135 stratotankers probed Russian air defences in the same Black Sea Region.They were intercepted by two Su-30 Flanker multirole fighters,which are capable of all-weather,air-to-air and air-to-ground deep strike missions.The Flankers escorted the Lancers out of the Russian Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) without incident.The B-1Bs had flown out of RAF Fairford,England as part of the current Bomber Task Force deployment in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve.