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In response to
"Ukraine doesn’t do things in a vacuum or without a strategy. Why would they attack the fleet in Sevastopol? Something’s going down. -- nm"
by
Mop
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A drone attack damaged a Black Sea Fleet minesweeping vessel, Russia says.
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Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday accused Ukraine of launching a drone attack on the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, the Russian-occupied peninsula that has been a key staging ground for President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The ministry blamed “the Kyiv regime,” saying in a statement that the ships of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet were the target and that minor damage had been sustained by at least one Russian vessel, a minesweeper. It added that 16 drones were involved and that “all air targets” had been destroyed.
There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials, who have maintained a policy of official ambiguity about attacks far behind the front lines. The Russians claims could not be independently confirmed.
Russia’s state-run news agency Tass reported that a powerful explosion was heard in the pre-dawn hours over the bay of Sevastopol, Crimea’s largest city and where the Black Sea Fleet is based.
The Russian-appointed governor of the region, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said in a Telegram post that ships with the Black Sea Fleet had “repelled” the attack and urged residents not to share photos of the area on social media.
Crimea, which has been under Kremlin control since Moscow illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014, holds immense symbolic importance for Mr. Putin. An explosion earlier this month on the bridge linking the peninsula to Russia prompted Mr. Putin to retaliate with mass strikes across Ukraine that killed dozens of people and targeted critical infrastructure.
While Ukraine’s military did not publicly claim responsibility for the bridge blast, the incident was reminiscent of other attacks carried out by Kyiv’s forces against targets that were highly symbolic and showcased its military ingenuity in the face of a stronger, more heavily armed Russian military.
In April, two Ukrainian-made Neptune cruise missiles slammed into the hull of the Moskva, the pride of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. The strike set off a series of explosions that eventually caused the cruiser to sink, killing an unknown number of sailors.
While the attack on the Moskva stunned Russia’s military establishment, it was a series of strikes on military targets on the Black Sea peninsula over the summer that disrupted Crimea’s sense of security and distance from the war — further demonstrating Ukraine’s ability to inflict pain on Russia’s pride as well as its army.
In one particularly bold attack, explosions destroyed at least eight Russian war planes at an airfield in Crimea. Later, in August, a drone slammed into the headquarters building of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.
— Victoria Kim
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