Ukraine Launches Major Sea and Air Drone Attack on Crimea: Moscow

Dozens of Ukrainian drones targeted Crimea overnight as the airborne threat posed by Kyiv toward the occupied peninsula continues.

Kyiv has carried out many successful attacks against the peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, often targeting air defense batteries. Strikes on Russia's Black Sea Fleet have forced it further east from its hub in the city of Sevastopol.

This barrage continued overnight Wednesday, according to the Moscow-installed head of the city, with Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev saying Sevastopol had come under attack by a naval drone.

Residents in the city posted on social media how they could hear loud explosions. "The loud sounds that were heard in the city were our military repelling an attempted attack by a surface drone," Razvozhayev wrote on Telegram.

The Crimean Wind Telegram channel posted video footage that it said showed Russian defenses firing toward the sea at nighttime and explosions.

The Russian Defense Ministry posted on Telegram that Kyiv had tried to carry out "a terrorist attack." However, air defense systems "destroyed and intercepted" 33 drones over Crimea and two over Russia's Bryansk region. Its governor said they had caused no casualties or damage. Newsweek has not yet verified all these claims.

Moscow also claimed that it had destroyed 10 unmanned boats heading toward the Crimean Peninsula. As of Thursday morning, Kyiv had not commented on Moscow's claims. Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian Defense Ministry for its views.

Three days earlier, Ukrainian drones had targeted south of Sevastopol. Russian authorities said that its defenses shot down at least one drone over Cape Fiolent on July 15, The Kyiv Independent online newspaper reported.

Local residents heard at least eight explosions and reported hits at the area. It was the location for a Russian military unit base said to be equipped with S-300 or S-400 air defense systems.

Often without claiming direct responsibility, Ukraine has increased attacks on Russia's territory, targeting energy and military sites it says help the Russian war effort.

Kyiv has used naval drones to great effect before, hitting the landing ship Caesar Kunikov, the Sergei Kotov patrol ship, high-speed Serna- and Akula-class landing crafts, and the Tarantul-class Ivanovets missile corvette.

Ukraine's Navy said that, due to repeated strikes on the Black Sea Fleet, Moscow had withdrawn its last patrol ship from Sevastopol on July 15.

There were reports that Russia had launched a Shahed "kamikaze" drone on Kyiv on Wednesday night. City Mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on Telegram that a residential building and educational institution had caught alight.

Across Ukraine, Russia launched an air barrage, with all drones and two missiles out of three shot down, according to Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk, cited by RBC Ukraine.

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