Russia repels Ukraine’s drone attack on the Crimean fleet

The Russian military accused Ukraine on Saturday of launching an “intense” drone attack on its Black Sea fleet in the Crimea, while Britain strongly rejected Moscow’s allegations that its specialists were involved.

Sevastopol in Moscow-annexed Crimea, which has been targeted several times in recent months, serves as the headquarters of the fleet and the logistics center for operations in Ukraine.

The Russian military claimed that it “destroyed” nine drones and seven drones in an attack at the port in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Russian forces claimed that British “specialists”, who they said were based in the southern Ukrainian city of Ochakiv, helped prepare and train Kyiv to carry out the strike.

In another reference to the UK – which Moscow considers one of the most unfriendly Western countries – Moscow said the same British unit was involved in explosions in Nord Stream gas pipelines last month.

Britain has strongly refuted both allegations, saying that “the Russian Ministry of Defense is resorting to the promotion of false allegations on an epic scale”.

The British Ministry of Defense said that “this invented story says more about the arguments going on within the Russian government than it does about the West.”

Moscow’s military says ships that targeted its base in Crimea took part in a UN-brokered agreement to allow Ukrainian grain exports.

Russia recently criticized the deal, saying its grain exports were hit by Western sanctions.

‘Massive attack’

Mikhail Razvogayev, the Moscow-appointed governor of Sevastopol, said Saturday’s drone attack was the “largest” the peninsula had seen.

City services were on “alert”, but he claimed that no “civilian infrastructure” had been damaged.

He called on city residents not to post videos of the accident on social media.

“It should be clear to everyone that such information is badly needed for the Ukrainian Nazis to understand how to build the defense of our city,” he said.

City authorities said the port was “temporarily” closed to boats and ferries and urged people “not to panic”.

Attacks on Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, have increased in recent weeks, as Kyiv presses a counterattack in the south to retake territory that has been under Moscow’s control for months.

The authorities erected by Moscow in Kherson, north of Crimea, undertook to turn the city into a fortress, preparing for the inevitable attack.

On Thursday, Razovogayev said a thermal power plant had been attacked in Balaklava, in the Sevastopol region.

He claimed that there was only minor damage and no injuries.

In early October, the Moscow Bridge connecting Crimea to the Russian mainland — which President Vladimir Putin personally opened in 2018 — was damaged by an explosion that Putin blamed on Ukraine.

The Russian fleet stationed in the port was also attacked by a drone in August.

Russia’s claims on Saturday came as the Ukrainian military announced fighting in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in the east, including near Bakhmut – the only area where Russian forces have advanced in recent weeks.

Pro-Russian separatists fighting on Moscow’s side also announced a new prisoner exchange with Kyiv, saying 50 would go home from each side.

On the southern front, AFP journalists witnessed artillery battles in the village of Kobzartsy, the last settlement on the Ukrainian side before the line of contact with the Russians.

“It can go wrong here. But we know that they suffer more from their side than we do,” said Oleksiy, a Ukrainian soldier in his twenties.

Both sides were preparing for the battle for the city of Kherson, the regional capital that had fallen to the Moscow forces in the first days of their offensive.