Crimea was rocked by another night of "powerful" explosions, a day after Ukrainian naval drones and a cruise missile attacked a shipyard in the port of Sevastopol, destroying two Russian warships under repair.
Russia's defence ministry said in a statement that on Thursday morning its air defence systems destroyed 11 Ukrainian drone-type aircraft in the Black Sea peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014.
Residents of the Yevatoria, Zaozerne and Uyutne regions of Crimea have reported explosions since early morning, according to Russian Telegram channels, which published several videos and photos showing huge explosions and clouds of smoke rising in the air.
The Telegram channel "Crimean Wind" reported that the explosions started after 5 am on Thursday morning, after "drones arrived", while the explosions in Yevatoria caused many "houses" to shake. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the strikes.
The Russian military destroyed five drones of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Black Sea that were trying to attack the Sergei Kotov ship, the Defense Ministry said.
"On September 14, at about 05:00, the Armed Forces of Ukraine attempted to attack the patrol ship of the Black Sea Fleet Sergei Kotov with five drones in the Black Sea. In repulsing the attack, five enemy unmanned boats were destroyed by fire from the ship's standard weapons," the service noted.
This is not the first such incident. Thus, on Wednesday, the Russian military cleared three Ukrainian drones in the Black Sea.
On the night of 10 September, in the area of Fidonisii, the naval air force attacked three high-speed Willard Sea Force vessels carrying Ukrainian landing parties heading for the Crimean coast. Four more of the same vessels, which were heading towards Cape Tarkankut, were destroyed on 4 September.
