Conflicts & War

Russian Black Sea vessels targeted by drone attack

Moscow/Lviv, Ukraine, Oct 29 (EFE).- Russia’s Black Sea Fleet “repelled” a Ukrainian drone attack near Sevastopol on Saturday, the governor of the city in the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula claimed.

Mikhail Razvozhayev said in a Telegram post that Sevastapol’s air defenses downed the Ukrainian drones during the attack at around 4.30am local time. The Russian military also destroyed a naval drone, according to preliminary information, he added.

Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday said a minesweeper had suffered minor damage in the attack, which it said involved nine aerial drones and seven unmanned naval craft.

It claimed the operation had been overseen by British experts.

Earlier, Razvozhayev said the attack did not cause any damage to the port installations at Sevastopol.

Ukrainian authorities, however, said the explosions were the result of Russian negligence and claimed four Black Sea Fleet vessels were damaged.

Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine’s interior ministry, shared images on his social media purporting to show smoke billowing from the Sevastopol port.

“Local media report that rescuers are trying to put out fire on one of the ships, as seen through binoculars,” he said.

Razvozhayev said the situation “was under control” and urged the local population not to share videos or comments about the incident on social media.

Russia annexed Sevastopol, as well as the entire Crimean peninsula, from Ukraine in 2014.EFE

mos-int/jt

Related Articles

Back to top button