SATELLITE images shot Sunday show a newly deployed Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile battery in the Dzhankoy airbase in Crimea, almost 31 kilometers from the Russia-Ukraine border, Fox News reported. The intelligence report by ImageSat International indicates that the infrastructure for the S-400 battery was prepared in recent months, a long time before last weekend’s naval encounters that sparked new tension between Russia and Ukraine. The images showed bare ground in April 2018, and construction by Nov. 10 — two weeks before the recent escalation. The image captured Sunday confirms the deployment. The eight launchers of the S-400 battery are divided into four, which are located in the southwest area of the airbase — along with two radar systems and several trucks. One of them is suspected to carry S-400 missiles. The mobile S-400 missile has a range of up to almost 400 kilometers and can climb to an altitude of almost 31 kilometers. It’s intended to bring down a variety of aerial threats, from aircraft to cruise and ballistic missiles. (SD-Agencies) |