Six drones shot down in Crimea, says governor

MOSCOW: Governor of Russian-annexed Crimea on Thursday said that six drones have been downed or blocked overnight.

"During the past night, six drones were shot down or blocked ... in different parts of Crimea," Sergei Aksyonov wrote on Telegram, adding, "There were no victims or injured."

Crimea was internationally recognised as part of Ukraine before Russia illegally occupied it in 2014 in the aftermath of the Ukrainian Revolution.

A referendum was held in Crimea in which the majority of people expressed their will to become a part of the Russian Federation.

Crimea is located at a strategic location surrounded by the sea on three sides of its border.

This allows Crimea to have proper connectivity with the rest of the world. The Russian mainland has no access to the open sea on the southwest side of their continent.

Thus gaining hegemony over Crimea would enable the Russian government to have access to the Mediterranean Sea throughout the year.

Looking at the importance of the Crimean Peninsula, Moscow has opened a bridge connecting Crimea to Russia over the Strait of Kerch which was rocked by an explosion in October 2022.

The incident comes after Moscow deployed jets and artillery against an armed group that crossed from Ukraine in the most serious attack on its soil since Moscow's offensive began in February 2022.

On Wednesday, the governor of the Russian region of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said the territory was targeted overnight by numerous drones.

Regional authorities said 13 people had been injured as the area came under sustained artillery and mortar fire.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said a new wave of drone attacks launched by Russia overnight at multiple cities including Kyiv had failed to reach its targets, reported CNN.

Ukraine's air defences repelled all 36 drones launched by Russia overnight at multiple cities including Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday.

"It was not an easy night. As the enemy continued to terrorize Ukraine, they used 36 Shaheds (attack drones). None of them reached the target," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Russian forces shelled five communities in Sumy Oblast, firing more than 84 rounds from various types of artillery weapons, according to the Ukrainian military, reported Kyiv Independent.

Moreover, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the KGB successor agency, has reportedly detained two Ukrainian saboteurs.

The service claims the pair were plotting to blow up the power pylons of nuclear power stations in Russia, the Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported.