A drone has hit Russia’s navy headquarters in Crimea
The attack on the Black Sea fleet HQ in Sevastopol is understood to have happened on Saturday morning.
The drone was shot down and fell into the roof, causing a fire, officials in the Russian-controlled peninsula claim.
Huge fireball erupts at ammunition depot in Crimea in previous attack
It came a day after explosions erupted near military bases in Russian-held areas of Ukraine and even Russia itself in apparent displays of Kyiv’s growing ability to pummel Moscow’s assets far from front lines.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Sevastopol mayor, initially wrote on his Telegraph channel that a drone had flown into the Black Sea fleet’s HQ and had not been shot down despite efforts.
He later issued a clarification: “They shot down an UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] right above the fleet headquarters. It fell on the roof and caught fire … Well done boys.”
Footage posted on social media showed huge plumes of smoke rising from the navy HQ in Crimea on Saturday morning.
The Sevastopol mayor said there were no casualties in the drone attack.
A satellite image shows Saki Air Base after an explosion there Wednesday in the Crimean Peninsula
(AP)
Russian Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters was also hit by a drone last month
(REUTERS)
It was unclear where the drone had departed from.
The attack came just weeks after a drone strike hit the Black Sea fleet HQ site, injuring six people.
There were also huge blasts at an air base in Crimea last week. In a new assessment, a Western official said that incident had rendered half of Russia’s Black Sea naval aviation force useless in a stroke.
Another explosion was reported at an air base this week in Belbek, near Sevastopol. On the opposite end of the peninsula, the sky was also lit up at Kerch near a huge bridge to Russia, where Moscow said it shot down a drown.
Inside Russia, two villages were evacuated after explosions at an ammunition dump in Belgorod province, more than 100 km from territory controlled by Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainian authorities have stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility for attacks in Crimea or inside Russia, while still hinting that it is behind them using long-range weapons or sabotage.
Russia annexed Crimea, a peninsula at the top of the Black Sea, from Ukraine in 2014.
