A day after the Ukrainians’ successful attack on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, new explosions occurred on the annexed peninsula of Crimea. “According to preliminary information, air defense has been deployed in Sevastopol,” the head of the area’s Russian crew, Mikhail Razvoshayev, wrote in Telegram on Saturday morning.
Missile debris fell in a district north of the city where the Black Sea Fleet has its main base, he added. This could not be independently verified.
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The number of people killed or injured is still unclear
Photos of a plume of smoke in the sky were shared on social media and it was suggested there was a Russian ammunition dump in the affected area. Also on Friday, the Russian side initially only talked about falling rocket debris – but in the end the Ukrainian attack turned out to be much more successful: the missiles seriously damaged the important and symbolic Russian naval building.
It is not yet clear how many soldiers were killed or injured in Friday’s attack. The Russian side initially named a dead person, but later corrected this information and spoke only of a missing person. The head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, later said in an interview that at least nine Russians were killed and 16 others were injured, including generals.
Russia has been waging a war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine for 19 months. Russian Black Sea Fleet ships regularly fire rockets at Ukrainian cities. In recent weeks, the Ukrainian army has repeatedly managed to damage Russian military installations – including in Crimea, which has been annexed by Moscow since 2014.