The Russian defense ministry said on Friday that a Russian warship had destroyed a Ukrainian naval drone in the Black Sea.
This was coming the same day after Ukraine had claimed, according to some western media corroborated by Al Jazeera, that its forces attacked two Russian patrol ships operating in the Black Sea and destroyed a sophisticated “Triumf” surface-to-air missile defence system in Russian-occupied Crimea, with military analysts describing the loss of such equipment as “tactical failures” by Russia.
The attacks reported on Thursday followed a day after Kyiv said it had carried out a missile strike that badly damaged a Russian submarine and naval landing ship that were undergoing repairs in a shipyard in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Al Jazeera, referring to a post on the Telegram messaging app on Thursday, reported that Ukraine’s military said it hit two Russian patrol vessels in a southwest region of the Black Sea, causing “certain damage” in a morning attack.
It said, “The Russian Defence Ministry confirmed an attack on the Sergei Kotov ship in a morning statement but said the assault involving five sea drones was repelled. It made no mention of damage.”
But in its account of the attacks, RT said Ukrainian forces targeted port infrastructure in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, according to Mikhail Razvozhaev, governor of the strategic city which hosts Russia’s Black Sea fleet.
“Approximately 20 minutes ago, our enemies attacked Sevastopol,” Razvozhaev wrote in a Telegram post at around 3:40am Wednesday morning. He later said that at least 24 people were injured, of whom four were in a moderately serious condition.
The official said that while air defenses were activated against the suspected missiles, the attack caused a fire at a “non-civilian” facility in the city’s industrial district.
There was no immediate information about the extent of the damage. Several photos and videos shared by Russian Telegram news channels purportedly showed an explosion and fire in the vicinity of a shipbuilding yard.
On Friday, Russia’s defence minister came out to say, according to Al Arabiya, that a Russian warship had destroyed a Ukrainian naval drone in the Black Sea.
