In this reaching photo released on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, by the telegram channel of Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev, Razvozhaev speaks on mobile phone as smoke and flames rise from a burning Sevastopol shipyard in Crimea.
AP
Ukraine launched another missile attack on Sevastopol on the occupied Crimean peninsula on Saturday morning, a Russian-installed official said, a day after an attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet left a soldier missing and the main building smoldering.
Sevastopol was under an air raid alert for about an hour after debris from intercepted rockets fell near a pier, Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev wrote in the messaging app Telegram. Ferry traffic in the area was also halted and later resumed.
Loud explosions were also heard near Vilne in northern Crimea, followed by rising clouds of smoke, according to a pro-Ukrainian news channel Telegram reporting on developments on the peninsula. Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, has been a frequent target for Ukrainian forces since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of the neighboring country in February 2022.
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The head of Ukraine’s intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, told Voice of America on Saturday that at least nine people were killed and 16 others injured as a result of Kiev’s attack on the Black Sea Fleet on Friday. He claimed that Alexander Romanchuk, a Russian general commander along the key southeastern frontline, was “in a very serious condition” after the attack.
Budanov’s claim could not be independently verified and he did not comment on whether Western-made missiles were used in Friday’s attack.
Russia’s Defense Ministry initially said Friday’s attack killed one soldier at the Black Sea Fleet headquarters, but later issued a statement saying he was missing.
The Ukrainian military also provided more details about Friday’s attack on Sevastopol. The air force carried out 12 strikes on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters, targeting areas where personnel, military equipment and weapons were concentrated, according to the air force. It said two anti-aircraft missile systems and four Russian artillery units were hit.
Crimea has served as the main hub in support of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Sevastopol, the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet since the 19th century, has been of particular importance for naval operations since the beginning of the war.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted naval facilities in Crimea in recent weeks as the focus of the summer counteroffensive slowly makes gains in eastern and southern Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said. Military experts say it is essential that Ukraine continues its attacks on targets in Crimea to lower Russian morale and weaken its military.
Elsewhere, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday that Russia has launched 15 Iranian-made Shahed drones in the Zaporizhia frontline in the southeast, as well as in Dnipropetrovsk province further north. It claimed to have destroyed fourteen of the drones.
In addition, Zaporizhia regional governor Yuri Malashko said that the day before, Russia carried out 86 attacks on 27 settlements in the province, many of which were just a few kilometers away from the fighting. Malashko said an 82-year-old civilian was killed by artillery fire.
In the neighboring Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said at least one person was killed and three other people were injured in the past day as a result of Russian shelling. Russia fired 25 shells at the city of Kherson, which lies along the Dneiper River and marks the line of contact between the warring sides, Prokudin said.
Residential areas were affected, including medical and educational institutions, government-built stations serving food and drinks, as well as critical infrastructure facilities and a prison, he said.