Russia stated that it prevented nearly twenty Ukrainian drones from launching an attack on annexed Crimea and patrol ships in the Black Sea on Thursday.
According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, “At about 5:00 am, the Ukrainian armed forces attempted to attack the Black Sea Fleet patrol ship Sergey Kotov in the Black Sea with five unmanned sea boats.”
The defense ministry added, “While defending against the attack, the ship destroyed all five enemy unmanned boats using gunfire.”
Throughout Russia’s invasion, Crimea has been targeted by Ukraine, but recent weeks have seen an escalation in attacks as Kyiv pledges to reclaim the Black Sea peninsula.
Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that there were also drone attacks from the air. It stated, “at around 5:30 am on Thursday, air defense systems successfully destroyed 11 unmanned aerial vehicles over the Crimean peninsula.”
The ministry did not disclose whether either the sea or air attacks resulted in any casualties or damage.
Prior to this incident, Russia reported destroying multiple Ukrainian drones that were targeting its border regions of Bryansk and Belgorod overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.
According to the Defense Ministry, six drones were shot down in four different locations over the Bryansk region, which is approximately 400 kilometers southwest of Moscow.
On Wednesday evening, another drone was destroyed further south over the Belgorod region.
