Dozens of Ukrainian drones have been shot down by Russian air defences in occupied Crimea and southern Russia, according to officials.
Air raid sirens wailed in Sevastopol, Crimea’s largest city, and traffic was halted for the second day straight on The Kerch Bridge, a crucial supply link for Russia that connects it with the peninsula.
Russia’s defence ministry said it has intercepted 36 drones over Crimea and one over the region of Krasnodar in recent days.
The drones are part of intensified Ukrainian aerial attacks, according to the ministry, which also said a Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missile was destroyed over the Black Sea.
This comes as Kyiv presses forward with its strategy of targeting Crimea – which was illegally seized by Russia a decade ago – and taking the war beyond Ukraine‘s borders.
On Thursday, Ukrainian rocket and drone attacks injured three people in the Russian city of Belgorod and the surrounding region, according to Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
An attack on military facilities in Crimea also affected a command centre and the peninsula’s air defence system, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern joint forces said.
Natalia Humeniuk added that the Russian military recently relocated its Crimean launch sites for Shahed drones.
It was not possible to verify either side’s claims.
On 30 December, Ukrainian attacks on the border city killed 25 people, Russian officials said. Vladimir Putin‘s forces swiftly retaliated by targeting multiple Ukrainian cities.
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Firefighters extinguish cars in Belgorod, Russia, on 30 December Pic: AP
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to strike more targets in Crimea and inside Russia’s borders this year, as part of a bid to unsettle people ahead of the country’s spring election.
Zelenskyy previously said Ukraine has developed a weapon that can hit targets 400 miles away and shared plans to produce 1 million drones – a key battlefield weapon.
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Russia is also raising the stakes in its long-range warfare, acquiring ballistics missiles from North Korea and firing at least one into Ukraine on 30 December, according to US intelligence.
The Kremlin is also seeking close-range missiles from Iran, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.