(Reuters) – Ukraine launched more than 10 drones overnight on the Crimean Peninsula, including three on the port of Sevastopol, a Russian-installed official said early on Sunday, adding that air defence systems repelled all the attacks on Sevastopol.
“No objects (in Sevastopol) were damaged,” Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, said on the Telegram messaging app.
There were no immediate details of any damage from the strikes elsewhere on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Baza, a Telegram channel with links to Russia’s law enforcement agencies, reported earlier on Sunday that according to the channel’s preliminary information, there were no casualties in what it said was a series of attacks on Crimea.
According to Ukrainian monitoring of Telegram channels, explosions took place in Sevastopol and Saki – where Russia has an air base – as well as a few other places.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports.
Strikes on Russian-held targets have intensified in the past two weeks, especially in Crimea. Ukraine, without confirming any role in those attacks, says destroying infrastructure is preparation for its planned ground assault.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Kim Coghill and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
