(Reuters) – Ukraine has launched more than a dozen drones overnight in Crimea, including three on the port of Sevastopol, a Russian official said early on Sunday, adding that air defense systems repelled all attacks on Sevastopol.
“No objects (in Sevastopol) were damaged,” Mikhail Razvogaev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, said on messaging app Telegram.
There were no immediate details of any damage from strikes elsewhere in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Baza, a Telegram channel with links to Russian law enforcement agencies, reported earlier Sunday that according to the channel’s initial information, there were no casualties in what it described as a series of attacks on Crimea.
According to the Ukrainian monitor of Telegram channels, explosions occurred in Sevastopol and Saki – where Russia has an air base – as well as a few other places.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Strikes on Russian-controlled targets have intensified in the past two weeks, especially in Crimea. Ukraine, without confirming any role in those attacks, says the destruction of the infrastructure is a preparation for its planned ground offensive.
(Reporting by Lydia Kelly from Melbourne); Editing by Kim Coghill
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