The Moscow-based governor reports at least 24 people injured when a rocket attack sparked a major fire at the Sevastopol naval shipyard.
A Ukrainian airstrike on a naval shipyard in Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea caused a major fire and injured at least 24 people, the Moscow-appointed governor of the port city said.
Mikhail Razvozhayev said on the messaging app Telegram that Ukraine carried out a missile attack in the early hours of Wednesday morning and Russian air defenses tried to repel the incoming projectiles.
“All emergency services are on site, there is no danger to civilian objects in the city,” Razvozhayev said.
Sevastopol is the largest city in Crimea and an important port where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based.
Kiev officials have vowed to retake Crimea from Russian control, and Ukraine has stepped up air and sea attacks on the peninsula in recent weeks.
Several Russian Telegram news channels reported that the Sevastopol shipyard, which carries out the construction and repair of ships and submarines of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was on fire.
The size of the fire and the extent of damage to the shipyard were not immediately known, although images posted on social media showed large flames in the darkness that appeared to engulf major port infrastructure. Russian Telegram channels published videos and other photos of large flames in a facility on the water’s edge.
Ukrainian news agency Kyiv Independent said the attack took place around 3 a.m. local time (around 00:00 GMT).
⚡️Explosions reported near occupied Sevastopol.
Photos and videos posted on Telegram on September 13 appeared to show an explosion around Sevastopol, a large naval city in Russian-occupied Crimea. The explosions were reported around 3 a.m. local time.
Photo: Crimeanwind/Telegram pic.twitter.com/dwIZBXFlcg
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 13, 2023
Also on Wednesday morning, a Russian drone strike on the Danube port of Ismail in Ukraine’s Odessa region caused a fire and civilian injuries, the regional governor said.
“Several groups of attack drones were targeted at the Ismail district,” Odessa Governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram, describing the Russian airstrike on the civilian port as an action by “terrorists.”
“Damage was recorded to the port and other civilian infrastructure…rescuers are extinguishing the fire,” Kiper said, adding that six civilians were injured and taken to hospital, three of them in serious condition and three others in “moderate condition.”
Ukraine’s Danube ports, located on the border with Romania, have become a main export route for Ukrainian agricultural products following Russia’s withdrawal from a United Nations-brokered grain deal in July and Moscow’s renewed blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports.