Russian authorities in Sevastopol say they fended off drone attacks from Ukraine

By Josh Pennington and Heather Chen, CNN

Russian-appointed authorities in Crimea reported on Sunday that their air defense forces and electronic warfare units had fended off at least three Ukranian drone attacks in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol.

The Russian-back governor of the city, Mikhail Razvozhaev said that “more than ten drones” were sent to Crimea and Sevastopol overnight. “The air defense forces and electronic warfare units prevented another attack on Sevastopol,” he said in a statement shared on Telegram.

He added that one of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) lost control and crashed into a forest.

The wreckage was recovered by Interior Ministry and Emergencies Ministry personnel, Razvozhaev said, adding that there was no damage done to any structures in the city.

Two others were shot down over the sea — one near Cape Chersonese and the other from “the side of the north breakwater.”

Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, and is internationally recognized as being part of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to “liberate” all of the country’s territory including the occupied peninsula.

An important port and a major naval base for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, Sevastopol city has been the site of multiple suspected Ukrainian attacks.

Last week saw reports of a suspected drone strike which sparked a huge fire at a fuel storage facility in Sevastopol. Razvozhaev said on that occasion that four fuel tanks were hit but no one was injured.

Earlier on Saturday, Sergei Aksyonov, the Russia-appointed governor of Crimea, said there had been no damage or injuries after air defense forces shot down a ballistic missile launched from Ukrainian Operational Tactical Missile System Hrim-2.

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