A drone struck the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea on Saturday, reaching the heart of a heavily fortified naval base that has long allowed Moscow to project power in the region.
The incident follows a series of explosions and possible acts of sabotage that have exposed the peninsula’s vulnerability and put pressure on Russia to step up its defenses there. Until recently, Moscow could count on Crimea as a reliably safe base of retreat to oversee the Russian occupation of territory along Ukraine’s southern coast.
The drone’s ability to penetrate Russian-controlled airspace and reach the nerve center of Moscow’s naval operations deals a symbolic blow to the Black Sea Fleet, which has recently been placed under a new commander.
Videos posted on social media showed a plume of smoke rising over the Crimean city of Sevastopol, where the fleet is based. Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Russian-installed governor of the strategic port city, said on the Telegram messaging app that the drone flew “to the roof” of the building. He later issued what he called a clarification, saying the drone fell on the roof and caught fire after being shot down by Russian air defenses.
Mr Razvozhaev blamed the incident on the Ukrainian government in Kyiv, saying there was no serious damage to the headquarters and no one was injured. He said all approaches and entrances to the site had been blocked by police and urged citizens to “keep calm and stay home”.
A Ukrainian soldier launched a reconnaissance drone in northern Ukraine’s Kyiv region earlier this month.
Photo: Efrem Lukatsky/Associated Press
Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment on the incident, but have indicated that they were involved in a series of blasts that have tested Moscow’s hold over Crimea in recent weeks. Russian authorities have downplayed recent incursions on the peninsula, which became a Russian stronghold after Russia annexed it in 2014.
Officials in western Crimea said Russian air defenses were working to repel small drones that flew over the city of Yevpatoria on Saturday morning.
Russian air defenses “successfully hit all targets over Crimea,” said Russian-backed peninsular governor Sergei Aksyonov, adding that there were no casualties or damage.
A spate of explosions at Russian ammunition depots, airfields and bridges appears to be intensifying the strategy Ukrainian forces have been pursuing in recent weeks – to hit Moscow’s supply lines in hopes of starving Russian troops west of the Dnieper River in the occupied Kherson region have them forced to retreat.
An explosion at an ammunition depot in Crimea on Tuesday was the result of sabotage, Russia said.
Photo: Stringer/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Ukraine’s immediate goal is not retaking Crimea, but Russia’s ability to wage war in the south and east, where Kyiv is trying to reclaim territory seized by Moscow’s armies elsewhere.
An explosion at an airbase in Crimea earlier this month disabled more than half of the Black Sea Fleet’s naval warplanes, according to a Western official. It is not clear what caused the explosion.
Moscow blamed sabotage for an explosion earlier this week at an ammunition depot on the peninsula. An official in Kyiv said it was the work of Ukraine’s supporters.
“The topic on the agenda is the gradual demilitarization of the peninsula followed by deoccupation,” said Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on Friday. Crimea residents who have previously cooperated with Russia will receive a lighter sentence if they share information about Russian troops and equipment in the region, Mr Danilov said.
Sabotage and attacks deep within Russian territory have increased as frontlines between Russian and Ukrainian troops have become static after nearly six months of fighting that has worn both sides down.
There have been minimal changes to territorial control over the past week, the UK Ministry of Defense said. To the east, Russian forces have advanced on Bakhmut but have yet to penetrate built-up areas of the city, the ministry said in its daily intelligence briefing. Increasingly frequent explosions behind Russian lines are, according to the ministry, “probably a burden on Russian logistics and the air base in the south”.
Ukrainian soldiers load ammunition on the front lines in the eastern Donetsk region.
Photo: anatolii stepanov/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
According to Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the region’s military administration, Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted four Russian missiles over downtown Dnipro on Saturday.
Also on Saturday, seven people – including several children – were injured when Russian missiles hit a multi-story apartment building in the southern Ukrainian city of Voznesenk, said Vitaliy Kim, the head of the Mykolaiv regional military administration.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Saturday that a UN-brokered grain export deal brings hope to countries hit by a global food crisis amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Guterres was speaking in Istanbul at the end of a three-day visit to the region that included a trip to Odessa, where on Friday he witnessed the loading of wheat onto a ship preparing to leave Ukraine under the deal.
“I was so moved when I saw the wheat filling the ship’s hold,” he said. “It was the cargo of hope for so many around the world.”
He also said he hopes that the “extraordinary spirit and commitment” of the participants in the agreement could eventually be used to lead to peace.
During his stay in Istanbul, Mr. Guterres also joined an inspection team aboard one of the grain vessels, the Invincible II.
Representatives of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations signed an agreement in July to resume Ukraine’s exports of grain and other foodstuffs through three of its Black Sea ports. The deal was the result of months of negotiations brokered by the UN and Turkey.
The grain agreement is a key achievement of the UN in the Ukraine war. The UN’s supreme decision-making body, the Security Council, was powerless to roll back the Russian invasion or de-escalate the conflict, largely due to Russia’s veto power in the Council.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February trapped millions of tons of grain inside the country and paralyzed exports. Before the war, Ukraine provided about 10% of world wheat exports.
Dozens of ships have left Ukrainian ports since the deal was signed, exporting more than 650,000 tons of corn, wheat and other products since shipments resumed on August 1, according to the UN
—Jared Malsin in Istanbul contributed to this article.
write to Ann M. Simmons at [email protected] and Isabel Coles at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8