FILE PHOTO. Air raid sirens wailed in Sevastopol, Crimea's largest city (Planet Labs via AP)
Russian air defense shot down dozens of Ukrainian drones on Friday Crimea and southern Russia, Russian authorities reported, as Ukraine sticks to its strategy of attacking the Moscow-annexed Ukrainian peninsula and expanding the war far beyond its borders.
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Air raid sirens wailed Sevastopol, In Crimea's largest city, traffic was disrupted for the second day in a row on a bridge connecting the peninsula – which Moscow illegally annexed a decade ago – to the region Krasnodar, in the south of Russia. The route is a crucial supply link for the Russian war effort.
Russia's Defense Ministry said its defenses intercepted 36 drones over Crimea and one over Krasnodar, part of an emerging pattern of escalating Ukrainian airstrikes in recent days.
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According to the ministry, a Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missile was also destroyed over the northwestern part of the Black Sea.
The developments came after three people were injured in further Ukrainian missile and drone attacks on the Russian border town on Thursday Belgorod and the surrounding region, said Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
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On January 6, Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod resulted in fatalities 25 peoplethe authorities there claimed.
Zelensky has promised to attack more targets on the Crimean peninsula and Russian border regions this year to unsettle Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has promised to attack more targets on the Crimean peninsula and Russian border regions this year. The aim is to unsettle Russians in the presidential election Wladimir Putin wants to remain in power for another six years in the elections on March 17th.
A Ukrainian attack on military facilities in Crimea According to a spokeswoman for the United Armed Forces of Southern Ukraine, Nataliia Humeniuk, a command center and the peninsula's air defense system were affected on Thursday.
He said the Russian military recently moved its launch sites for the Shahed drones to Crimea. It was not possible to verify either party's claims.
After a drone strike in Russia last year, Zelensky said Ukraine had developed a weapon that could hit targets 700 kilometers away. Last month it was announced that Kiev plans to produce 1 million drones, which have become a key weapon on the battlefield.
Both sides are raising the stakes in their long-term war as soldiers remain stranded on the wintry battlefield. Britain's Ministry of Defense stressed on Friday that “ground fighting is characterized by a static front line or very slow local Russian advances in key sectors.”
Zelensky thanked Germany on Thursday for supplying military aid, especially air defense material, saying: “It’s timely and focused on our priorities.”
(With information from AP)