Moscow’s governor-designate reported that at least 24 people were injured when the missile attack sparked a major fire at the Sevastopol Naval Shipyard.
At least 24 people were injured and two Russian navy ships caught fire after a Ukrainian missile attack on a shipyard in Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea, authorities said.
Ukraine carried out the missile attack in the early hours of Wednesday, and Russian air defenses tried to repel the incoming projectiles, Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev, who was appointed by Russia, said via messaging app Telegram. Russian ships at sea also repelled a drone attack from the sea.
The Russian Defense Ministry later said that Ukrainian forces fired 10 cruise missiles at the shipyard and three naval drones at Russian ships in the Black Sea.
The ministry said that seven missiles were shot down and naval drones were destroyed, but some of the missiles damaged two ships that were being repaired at the Sevastopol shipyard.
“The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a strike with 10 cruise missiles on the ship repair plant V.S. Ordzhonikidze,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram.
The ministry said: “As a result of two ships being hit by enemy cruise missiles, two ships were damaged and are undergoing repair.”
Sevastopol is the largest city in Crimea and a major port where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based.
Ukraine’s independent Kiev News Agency said the attack occurred at around 3 a.m. local time (00:00 GMT).
⚡️Explosions near the occupied city of Sevastopol.
Photos and videos posted on Telegram on September 13 appear to show an explosion around Sevastopol, a major maritime city in Russian-occupied Crimea. The explosions were reported around 3 a.m. local time.
Photo: Crimeanwind/Telegram pic.twitter.com/dwIZBXFlcg
— Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 13, 2023
Officials in Kiev have promised to reclaim Crimea from Russian control, and Ukraine has intensified its air and sea attacks on the peninsula in recent weeks.
Several Russian news monitoring channels on the Telegram application reported that the shipyard, which undertakes construction and repair work on ships and submarines of the Black Sea Fleet, caught fire.
The size of the fire and the extent of damage to the shipyard were not immediately known, although photos posted on social media showed large flames in the dark engulfing what appeared to be port infrastructure. Russian Telegram channels posted videos and more photos of large flames at a facility next to the water.
The regional governor said that a Russian drone attack also on Wednesday morning on the port of Izmail on the Danube River in the Odessa region of Ukraine caused a fire and injured civilians.
The Ukrainian military said that 32 Russian drones were shot down during the attack.
“Several groups of drones were directed to the Izmail district,” Odessa Governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram, describing the Russian air strike on the civilian port as the work of “terrorists.”
“Damage to the port and other civilian infrastructure has been recorded… Rescuers are working to put out the fire,” Kiper said, adding that six civilians were injured and taken to hospital, three of them in serious condition and three others in “moderate condition.”
Ukraine’s Danube ports, on the border with Romania, have become a major export route for Ukrainian agricultural products after Russia withdrew from a UN-brokered grain deal in July and Moscow renewed a blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports.
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