Ukraine targets Crimea with missile after attack on Black Sea Fleet
Ukraine targeted a key city in the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula with a missile strike Saturday, one day after launching an attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea and a major Black Sea port was put under an air raid alert for approximately an hour Saturday morning while debris from intercepted Ukrainian missiles fell near a pier, the Russia-appointed Gov. Mikhail Razvozhayev wrote on a Telegram Post.
The attack also put a pause on ferry traffic in the area, which was later resumed, and comes after at least nine were killed and 16 were wounded by a missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the city Friday, Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, told Voice of America.
Budanov also claimed that Alexander Romanchuk, a Russian general in charge of forces along the war’s key southeastern front line, was “in very serious condition” following the attack, although Romanchuk’s condition has not been confirmed.
The Russian Defense Ministry initially said that the Friday strike killed one service member at the Black Sea headquarters Friday, but later said in a statement that he was missing.
The Friday attack consisted of a dozen strikes on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters, targeting areas where Russian personnel, military equipment, and weapons were concentrated, according to the Ukrainian military, which said that four artillery units and two anti-aircraft missile systems were hit.
Crimea has been a frequent target for Kyiv since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has acted as a key hub for Moscow’s naval operations since the start of the war.
Attacks on the peninsula have ramped up in the past few weeks, as Ukraine’s counteroffensive makes slow advances in the east and south of the country.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said Russia launched 15 Iranian-made Shadeh drones along the front line of the Zaporizhzhia region in the southeast, although it said 14 of the drones were destroyed by the military.
Zaporizhzhia regional Gov. Yuri Malashko said over the past day, Russia launched 86 strikes on 27 settlements in the area, many of which were just a few miles from the fighting, killing an 82-year-old civilian.
Russian shelling also killed at least one person and injured three others over the past day in the neighboring Kherson region, according to Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin, who said Moscow launched at least 25 shells at the city of Kherson on the Dneiper River, which marks the line between the two fighting forces.
Prokudin said that the strikes hit residential areas, including education and medical buildings, a prison, as well as government stations that have been serving food and drinks.
Amid the series of strikes, the general leading Ukraine’s counteroffensive said his troops have broken through Russia’s defenses in Verbove, a village in the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine, and added that he believes an even larger breakthrough is soon to come.
“On the left flank [near Verbove] we have a breakthrough and we continue to advance further,” Oleksandr Tarnavsky told CNN on Friday, although he said the counteroffensive is moving slower than he hoped.
“Not as fast as it was expected, not like in the movies about the Second World War,” he said. “The main thing is not to lose this initiative (that we have). And, well, not to lose it in practice, with actions.”
With Post Wires.
