Ukraine targets annexed Crimea in largest drone attack this year

Ukraine’s Armed Forces launched a “massive” drone attack on Russian-annexed Crimea overnight, their largest such attack in the last year, Russian-appointed Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev reported on Friday.

The Russian Defence Ministry said air defence systems shot down 89 drones over the peninsula, as well as 23 unmanned vehicles over the Black Sea. Razvozhaev, the man at the helm of Crimea’s largest city, says that the attacks resulted in no casualties or damage. 

Ukrainian Telegram news channel Crimean Wind said the attack was likely targeting the Kacha military airfield on the northern outskirts of Sevastopol. Russian news channel ASTRA reported a fire in the village of Uhlove, roughly seven kilometres from the airfield. Residents also described hearing explosions near the Inkerman winery, about two kilometres from Kacha. 

The Ukrainian guerrilla group Atesh, which operates covertly in Crimea, claimed on Friday morning that the drone attack had successfully hit the airfield. According to a Telegram post cited by the Kyiv Post, multiple explosions and visible fires were reported at the airfield, likely the result of ammunition detonations.

ASTRA said the strike may have also triggered a fire at the Stroyindustria industrial plant, a major local manufacturer of construction materials.