An explosion rang out in the sky over the Russian-occupied city of Sevastopol on Thursday and Russia said it had shot down a drone, suggesting that Ukraine is continuing to strike back at Russia with long-range weapons far from the front lines of the nine-month-old war.
Locals described hearing an explosion and the launch of anti-aircraft missiles, Krym Realii, a Ukrainian news outlet, reported.
The city’s Russian-appointed mayor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said that Russia’s Black Sea Fleet had shot down a Ukrainian drone. Sevastopol is the home port of the fleet, which Russia has used to launch cruise missiles from ships at Ukraine’s electrical grid.
It lies on Crimea, the peninsula that Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and about 180 miles from the nearest Ukrainian-controlled territory. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, told reporters on Thursday that the security of Crimea and Sevastopol faced “risks”, but said that “effective countermeasures” were being taken.
Since October, waves of Russian missiles have streaked into Ukraine, targeting the electrical grid and heating infrastructure, in what military analysts say is an effort to freeze and demoralise the population.
New York Times News Service
