Russia on Tuesday morning claimed to have “destroyed” a Ukrainian army reconnaissance ship in the Black Sea, a place where both Russian and Ukrainian attacks have increased since Moscow withdrew from a key grain deal in July.
For the fifth straight day, Russia’s Defense Ministry also said it had shot down Ukrainian drones in the Moscow region, where authorities said there were no casualties, consistent with previous attacks.
During the night from Monday to Tuesday, a fighter plane “of the Black Sea Fleet’s naval aviation destroyed a reconnaissance ship of the Ukrainian armed forces,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram.
That ship was “in the area of Russian gas production facilities in the Black Sea,” according to the ministry, which gave no further details on the incident.
Attacks by both sides in the Black Sea region have multiplied since Moscow refused in mid-July to extend a deal negotiated between the United Nations and Turkey authorizing the export of Ukrainian grain.
Russia has repeatedly bombed Ukrainian port infrastructure in the Black Sea and Danube, while Ukraine has attacked Russian ships in its waters and on the Crimea peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.
On Monday night, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had “foiled” a Ukrainian drone attack and neutralized two planes that crashed in the Black Sea, “40 km northwest” of the peninsula.
Buildings of the Russian fleet were attacked by a Ukrainian attack using a naval drone Thursday night while it was patrolling shipping in the Black Sea, the Russian defense said. According to Moscow, the drone was “destroyed” by shelling from military ships without reaching its destination.
The target region Moscow
As it has every day since Friday, Russia announced early Tuesday that it had shot down Ukrainian drones in the region of its capital.
During the night from Monday to Tuesday, “two drones were discovered and destroyed by air defense systems,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram.
No one was killed in the attack, the ministry added.
According to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, speaking on Telegram, one of the two devices was shot down in the Krasnogorsk area, 20 km northwest of the Kremlin.
According to an AFP photographer, police in Krasnogorsk cordoned off the fence near debris that lay on the ground on Tuesday morning and several windows of a building appeared to be broken.
According to the state-run Russian news agency TASS, Moscow’s Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo international airports were temporarily closed to arrivals and departures before resuming operations.
Drone attacks on Russian territory have been increasing for several weeks, mostly without causing damage or casualties, and are particularly aimed at the Russian capital, which is more than 500 km from the border with Ukraine.
At the end of July and beginning of August, devices were destroyed above the business district of Moscow in the west of the capital, slightly damaging the facades of two towers. In May, two drones were shot down over the Kremlin and more drones hit apartment buildings in Moscow.
At the end of July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi welcomed the fact that “a war is coming to Russian territory”.
Zelenskyy in Greece
In the Russian region of Bryansk on the border with Ukraine, according to Moscow, two drones were also discovered and neutralized by air defense forces in the night from Monday to Tuesday before they crashed without causing any casualties.
On the front, Ukraine recaptured three square kilometers from Russian forces near Bakhmout in the east of the country in a week, while there had been no “significant change” on the southern front, Kiev said on Monday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who traveled to Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark this weekend, continues his surprise European trip to Greece, a staunch supporter of Ukraine since the conflict began, which has supplied Kiev with humanitarian aid and arms.
Greece has offered to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16 fighter jets, which their country will soon receive, Zelenskyy announced on Monday.
Ukraine on Friday welcomed the decision by the US to allow Denmark and the Netherlands to deploy a total of 61 F-16 fighter jets once Ukrainian pilots have been trained.
Following an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend via videoconference the Brics summit, which begins Tuesday in South Africa and where Russian diplomacy leader Sergei Lavrov will travel.
South Africa, China and India have not condemned Moscow since the conflict began, and Brazil has refused to join Western countries in sending arms to Ukraine or imposing sanctions on Russia.