Russian authorities claimed they shot down Ukrainian drones on Saturday in Crimea, while Ukrainian officials said Russian forces continued to attempt to seize one of the few cities in eastern Ukraine not already under their control.
Russian authorities claimed they shot down Ukrainian drones on Saturday in Crimea, while Ukrainian officials said Russian forces continued to attempt to seize one of the few cities in eastern Ukraine not already under their control.
The Russian military also kept up its strikes in Ukraine’s north and south.
In Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, Russian authorities said local air defences shot down a drone above the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.
It was the second drone incident at the headquarters in three weeks and followed explosions at a Russian airfield and ammunition depot on the peninsula this month.
Oleg Kryuchkov, an aide to Crimea’s governor, also said on Saturday that “attacks by small drones” triggered air-defence systems in western Crimea.
“Air defence systems successfully hit all targets over the territory over Crimea on Saturday morning. There are no casualties or material damage,” his boss, Sergei Aksyonov, said on Telegram.
Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said on Telegram that the city’s air-defence systems were called into action again late on Saturday.
The incidents underlined Russian forces’ vulnerability in Crimea. A drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea naval headquarters on July 31 injured five people and forced the cancellation of observances of Russia’s Navy Day.
