Drone attack on Russia’s naval base in Ukraine’s occupied Crimea region

Moscow dismisses attacks as psychological, not capable of inflicting harm

A drone has hit Russia’s navy headquarters in Crimea, the latest in a string of setbacks for Moscow in the region over the course of its war in Ukraine.

The incident took place within the heavily fortified Black Sea fleet base in Sevastopol on Saturday morning.

The UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) was shot down, officials in the Russian-controlled area say, and fell onto the roof of a building. The resulting fire sent huge plumes of smoke into the air.

Within hours, large traffic jams were reported on roads out of Sevastopol, which is the largest city on the Crimean peninsula and a key port and naval base.

It came a day after explosions erupted near military bases in Russian-held areas of Ukraine and even in Russia itself, in an apparent display of Kyiv’s growing ability to pummel Russian assets that are situated far from the front line.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the pro-Russian mayor of Sevastopol, wrote on his Telegram channel: “They shot down an UAV right above the fleet headquarters. It fell on the roof and caught fire ... Well done boys.” There were no casualties, he said.

Russian official Oleg Kryuchkov posted on Telegram that “attacks by small drones continue” in various locations around Crimea, and urged civilians to remain calm. “The goal is not military but psychological,” he wrote. “The explosives are minimal and not capable of inflicting significant harm.”

The headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol (AFP via Getty)

It was unclear where the drone had departed from, and the Ukrainian armed forces have not said that they were behind the strike. One defence analyst said the attack appeared to have been carried out by a weaponised, commercially acquired drone.

Earlier this week, Moscow installed a new commander of its Black Sea fleet in the wake of a spate of setbacks. At the end of last month, another drone strike hit the same site, injuring six people, which prompted Russia to shore up its defences in Crimea.

A satellite image shows the Saki airbase on the Crimean peninsula after an explosion there on Wednesday (AP)

There were also huge blasts at an airbase in Crimea last week. In a new assessment, a Western official said that the incident had rendered half of Russia’s Black Sea naval aviation force useless in one stroke.

This week, another explosion was reported at an airbase in Belbek, near Sevastopol. On the opposite end of the peninsula, the sky was also lit up at Kerch near a huge bridge to Russia, where Moscow said it had shot down a drone.

Inside Russia, two villages were evacuated after explosions at an ammunition dump in Belgorod province, more than 62 miles from territory controlled by Ukrainian forces.

Ukrainian authorities have stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility for attacks in Crimea or inside Russia, while still hinting that they carried them out by way of either long-range weapons or sabotage.

Non-operational Russian military equipment in Sevastopol (AFP via Getty)

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, thanked US president Joe Biden for another $775m military aid package. “We have taken another important step to defeat the aggressor,” he tweeted.

In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, a peninsula at the top of the Black Sea and a popular holiday destination with Russians, from Ukraine.