In Sevastopol on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, a series of explosions occurred early Wednesday morning. The governor of the occupiers announced that three water drones had been destroyed. The Russian Black Sea Fleet – based in Sevastopol – opened fire on the objects when they tried to penetrate the Bay of Sevastopol.

Friedrich Schmidt

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

  • Follow I follow

Robert Putzbach

Editor in politics

  • Follow I follow

In addition, the air defense had "worked". No warships were damaged. No one was injured. At times, sea transport in Sevastopol was suspended.

On Monday evening, there had already been explosions in the city of Dzhankoy in the north of Crimea. According to Ukrainian data, Russian cruise missiles of the type "Kalibr" were destroyed and the city's railway station, which is an important transport hub, was damaged.

Sergei Axyonov, the "head" of the occupiers for Crimea, said on Wednesday that "the Ukrainian drones" had "not caused any serious damage" in Dzhankoy "according to preliminary data."

Russia attacks cities with Shahed drones

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi traveled to Donbass on Wednesday and honored soldiers near the embattled city of Bakhmut. "I saw a lot of destruction in the area today. But the most important thing is victory," Zelenskyi said in a video. For months, heavy fighting has been raging over Bachmut. Kiev now controls only the western part of the city.

On Wednesday night, Russia attacked Ukrainian cities with drones. In the small town of Rzhyshchiv in the Kiev region, kamikaze drones hit a student dormitory and a school. Seven civilians were killed. The Ukrainian military said Russia had deployed a total of 21 Iranian Shahed drones launched from Russia's Bryansk region. Of these, 16 drones were shot down by air defense.

On Wednesday, several Russian missiles hit the city of Zaporizhia. Two nine-storey residential buildings were hit. One civilian was killed and another 25 people were injured, including three children.