The Russian Defense Ministry has reported that Russia successfully intercepted an attempt involving 20 Ukrainian drones to attack the Moscow-annexed Crimea overnight.
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Russia's Defense Ministry announced on Saturday that they successfully foiled an attack involving 20 Ukrainian drones targeting the Moscow-annexed Crimea overnight.
According to a Telegram post by the ministry, Russian air defenses managed to shoot down fourteen drones, while an additional six were electronically jammed. No casualties or damage were reported. Kyiv officials neither confirmed nor denied Ukraine's involvement in the attacks.
Videos circulating on Russian social media depicted smoke rising above a bridge connecting Russia to Crimea on Saturday. Sergei Aksyonov, the Moscow-appointed governor of the annexed peninsula, reported that Russian air defenses had also averted an attack by downing two Ukrainian missiles near the bridge. He confirmed that the bridge itself remained undamaged, although traffic was briefly halted. Aksyonov's adviser, Oleg Kryuchkov, suggested that "a smoke screen was put up by special services."
The significance of the bridge linking Crimea and Russia is profound for Moscow, serving as a vital route for military and civilian supplies. It also holds psychological importance, symbolizing Kremlin control over the peninsula that was unlawfully annexed in 2014.
In the previous week, a Ukrainian maritime drone struck a Russian tanker near the bridge, while an assault on the same bridge the previous month resulted in the death of a couple and serious injuries to their daughter, causing a section of the roadway to dangle precariously. Although the damage seemed less severe than that caused by an attack in October, it once again underlined the bridge's susceptibility.
The attempted drone and missile attacks come after three consecutive days of drone assaults on Moscow, the Russian capital. Employing drones to target Russia, despite more than 17 months of conflict, appears to offer limited military advantage for Ukraine. However, this strategy has effectively unsettled Russians and made them confront the consequences of the ongoing conflict.
Recent weeks have witnessed a surge in drone attacks both on Moscow and Crimea, the region that Russia unlawfully annexed from Ukraine in 2014, a move widely deemed illegal by much of the global community.
Meanwhile, Russia asserted on Saturday that it had recaptured control of the village of Urozhaine in Ukraine's easternmost Luhansk region through an overnight counterattack.
Tragically, early on Saturday morning, a 73-year-old woman lost her life due to Russian shelling in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region, as reported by the regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs, Ihor Klymenko, confirmed that a police officer was killed and twelve individuals sustained injuries when a guided Russian aerial bomb struck the city of Orikhiv in Ukraine's partially occupied southern Zaporizhzhia region. Among the wounded, four were also police officers, Klymenko reported.
Reports from local officials indicated that explosions were heard on Saturday morning in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. However, there were no confirmed casualties.
On Ukraine's Black Sea coastline, the city of Odesa has reopened several beaches for the first time since Russia initiated its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Odesa's Governor, Oleh Kiper, stated that six beaches were accessible, but he emphasized that accessing the beaches during air raid alerts was prohibited.
The strategically significant port city, vital for grain exports, has experienced repeated missile and drone attacks, especially after Moscow terminated a significant grain deal last month amidst Kyiv's continuous efforts to regain control of its occupied territories. Additionally, Russian mines have frequently washed up on the beaches of Odesa.
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