RUSSIA HAS SAID a Ukrainian cruise missile attack on a shipyard in Sevastopol in Moscow-controlled Crimea damaged two ships undergoing repairs overnight.

Sevastopol port is home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet.

Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014, said that Ukraine used three maritime drones and ten cruise missiles in the attack.

“The Ukrainian armed forces launched a strike with 10 cruise missiles at the S. Ordzhonikidze ship repair plant,” Moscow’s defence ministry said.

It said that air defence systems shot down seven of the missiles, while the Vasily Bykov patrol ship destroyed all the drones.

“As a result of being hit by enemy cruise missiles, two ships undergoing repairs were damaged,” it said.

Crimea has been targeted by Ukraine throughout Moscow’s offensive but attacks there have recently intensified as Kyiv vows to take the peninsula back.

Ukrainian air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk posted an image on Telegram of what appeared to be a large blaze at a port, and said Russia was “still recovering” from the attack.

“I would like to thank the pilots of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for their excellent combat work,” he said.

Air force spokesperson Yuriy Ignat told AFP that “the operation was successful”, without elaborating.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russia-backed governor of Sevastopol, Crimea’s biggest city, said on Telegram that he was at the scene of a fire at the shipyard.

“As a result of the attack, according to preliminary information, a total of 24 people were injured, four of them in moderate condition,” he said.

Odesa

Meanwhile in Odesa, Russian drones damaged the Danube river port of Izmail, causing a fire and civilian injuries. 

The Ukrainian military claimed 32 drones were downed during the attack.

Following the collapse of the deal allowing grain shipments from Black Sea ports, Russia has ramped up attacks on Ukraine’s southern Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, home to ports and infrastructure vital for agriculture exports.

Russia “once again attacked the south of Odesa region”, Odesa regional governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram.

“Several groups of strike drones were directed at the Izmail district,” he added.

“Damage to port and other civil infrastructure was recorded.”

He said a fire broke out and civilians had been injured.

Izmail, on the border with Nato member Romania, has become a main export route for Ukrainian products following Russia’s withdrawal from a UN-brokered grain deal in July.

The Defence Forces of Southern Ukraine later said on Telegram that the attack on Odesa region lasted four and a half hours.

The drones “aimed at the civilian infrastructure of the Danube”, their update said.

Thirty-two Iranian-made Shahed unmanned aerial vehicles “were shot down by air defence forces”.

“The port infrastructure suffered damage from the strikes, and a fire… was extinguished promptly.”

Seven civilian drivers were taken to a medical facility “with injuries of varying degrees of severity”.

© AFP 2023