Early Friday morning, Russia announced the downing of 42 Ukrainian drones over Crimea, speaking of a major attack, a day after Kiev announced launching a special operation in the peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014.
And the Russian Ministry of Defense wrote on Telegram, “Nine drones were destroyed over the territory of the Republic of Crimea. 33 drones were neutralized by means of electronic warfare and crashed without reaching their target.”
The ministry did not mention any injuries or damages as a result of the destruction of the drones.
In addition, the Russian army said in the morning that it had intercepted two marches, one in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, and the other in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow.
Despite these attacks, which have increased in number in recent weeks, and especially targeting the Russian capital and its region, the Kremlin asserts that the situation is still under control, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praises the “transfer” of fighting to Russian territory.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that “anti-aircraft defenses and all necessary protection systems are working effectively.”
But Peskov acknowledged that it is not “always” possible to “avoid some minor damage” during such attacks.
Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozayev reported earlier that several drones had been shot down off Crimea “in the Cape Chersonese region” in the southwest of the peninsula, about 10 kilometers from the main port of Sevastopol for the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Razvozaev said that the emergency services did not announce “any damage to civilian facilities.”
Crimea has been regularly attacked by air and sea drones since Kiev launched its counterattack on Russian forces in early June.
At the end of July, Moscow shot down 25 drones directed against Crimea, without recording any injuries, after shooting down 18 drones in the middle of the same month.
Kiev confirms its intention to restore the regions occupied by Moscow, including Crimea.
And Ukraine announced Thursday, on National Independence Day, that units of its special forces launched a qualitative military operation in the Crimea, during which they raised the Ukrainian flag, which represents a symbolic victory, albeit in passing.
Ukrainian military intelligence did not clarify the mission of the special forces units, saying only that they left “without incurring losses” after completing all their “goals and tasks”.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian intelligence announced the destruction of an anti-aircraft system in Crimea.
In the context of the Ukrainian counterattack, the US Department of Defense announced Thursday that the United States will start training Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16 fighters next September, which three countries, Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark, have promised to provide Kiev with a number of them.
Also, the White House reported that US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky discussed, during a phone call Thursday, “ensuring prompt approval for other countries to transfer their F-16s to Ukraine after training.”
Norway announced earlier Thursday that it would supply Ukraine with a number of these American-made fighters, thus becoming the third country to make a similar pledge after Denmark and the Netherlands.
In addition to the drone attack on Crimea, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced at dawn on Friday that a Ukrainian missile had been shot down, targeting “civilian targets” in the Kaluga region bordering the Moscow region.
“No injuries were recorded, and there was no damage to the infrastructure,” local governor Vladislav Shapsha wrote on Telegram.
On the other hand, the Kremlin denied on Friday that it had ordered the killing of the commander of the Wagner armed group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
“It’s a sheer lie,” a Russian presidential spokesman said, describing Western leaders’ suggestion that the Kremlin had orchestrated the incident as “speculation”.
Exactly two months after Prigozhin led an armed rebellion that lasted only a few hours against the Russian military leadership, the plane he was carrying crashed Thursday in an accident whose circumstances were not clear, and the Russian authorities confirmed that he killed all the passengers on the plane.
For his part, Zelensky confirmed that Kiev had nothing to do with the incident, and said, “I think everyone knows who is involved.”
#Russia #announces #shooting #Ukrainian #drones #Crimea
2023-08-25 15:22:23
