Russia says it thwarted new Ukrainian drone attack in Crimea

Moscow, Jul 18 (EFE).- Russia said Tuesday it had thwarted a new attack by Ukraine with 28 drones against objects in the annexed Crimean peninsula, one day after the attack carried out with unmanned naval vehicles against the Kerch bridge.

“Tonight an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack involving 28 (drones) against objects on the territory of the Crimean peninsula was thwarted,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

It said 17 drones were destroyed by Russian anti-aircraft defense and another 11 were suppressed using electronic warfare. It added that none of the drones reached its objective.

According to the department headed by Sergei Shoigu, there were no victims or material damage.

Russian-imposed Crimea Governor Sergei Axionov called locals and thousands of tourists who travel to the peninsula for the summer to remain calm and only trust reliable information sources.

The attack came 24 hours after the “terrorist” attack by two Ukrainian surface maritime drones against the Kerch Bridge, better known as the Crimean Bridge, as it links the Ukrainian peninsula with mainland Russia over the Kerch Strait.

Russia has accused the Ukrainian secret services and “armed formations” of the attack, which left two people dead, a couple from the Russian region of Belgorod, and a minor, their daughter, was moderately injured.

A part of the carriageway of the vehicular section of the bridge, which runs parallel to the railway segment, was completely destroyed in the direction of Taman, in the Krasnodar Territory, on the Russian mainland. In the opposite direction the asphalt was displaced between 70 and 80 centimeters.

However, after the pertinent structural analyzes and load tests on this last section, which goes in the opposite direction from Taman to Kerch, traffic resumed Tuesday morning. EFE

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