Russia says drone attack on Crimea port ‘repelled’

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has warded off a drone attack on the Crimean port of Sevastopol, the Moscow-installed governor of the city says.

“An attempted attack on Sevastopol was repelled from 3:30am [00:30 GMT],” Mikhail Razvojayev said on Telegram on Monday.

“A surface drone [naval] was destroyed by the anti-sabotage forces, the second one exploded on its own,” he said, adding that no damage was reported.

Passenger ferry service were suspended in the port city, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported, citing Sevastopol transport authorities.

No reason was given, but the agency said traffic had been suspended in the past due to drone attacks or storms.

Sevastopol along with the rest of the Crimean Peninsula was annexed by Russia in 2014 but is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.

There was no immediate reaction from Ukraine. Kyiv almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Crimea has repeatedly been the target of aerial and naval drone attacks.

There have been several acts of sabotage against Russian army bases, conscription offices and railways used as supply lines by the military since Russia began its military campaign in Ukraine.

In April, Alexander Bortnikov, head of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, accused Ukraine and Western countries of launching “an aggressive ideological and recruitment campaign” to incite Russians, particularly young people, to an armed rebellion.

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy has promised to recapture all the Ukrainian land that Russia now occupies, including Crimea.

Many former Eastern bloc states have more than doubled their military spending since Russia’s annexation of Crimea.