The Kremlin-installed authorities in Crimea mentioned on Sunday that Ukraine had launched a wave of drones on the occupied peninsula in a single day, the newest in a string of reported assaults on Russian-held territory forward of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Russian-appointed governor of the port of Sevastapol, the most important metropolis in Crimea, mentioned that “more than 10” drones have been concerned within the assault. At least three have been destroyed or crashed, he mentioned on the Telegram messaging app, including that there have been no experiences of injury.
His claims couldn’t be independently verified. And the Ukrainian authorities, as coverage, not often touch upon explosions behind enemy strains.
Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, has been a key conduit for provides and troops supporting Russia’s occupying forces in southern Ukraine. Attacks and explosions there have picked up in latest months, which navy analysts say may assist set the stage for a long-anticipated counteroffensive that Ukrainian officers have mentioned is within the last levels of preparation.
In simply the previous two weeks, refineries and navy installations on the peninsula have been focused. The Russian authorities have sought to downplay the assaults, however Ukraine’s navy has mentioned that not less than one of many assaults was in preparation for its counteroffensive.
After a winter the place each side gained little floor in preventing centered in jap Ukraine, every is making ready for the subsequent part of the struggle. Ukraine is being powered by recent provides of superior Western navy tools, together with tanks and armored personnel carriers which have already arrived within the nation. And Russian forces have dug new defensive positions and are repositioning troops to arrange for the anticipated counteroffensive.
Here’s what else is going on in Ukraine:
A lethal assault in Kherson
Six Ukrainian mine disposal specialists have been killed once they got here underneath hearth from Russian forces whereas they have been working in southern Ukraine’s Kherson area, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service mentioned on Saturday.
Ukrainian demining specialists have recurrently been killed and wounded whereas trying to clear mines, usually laid by retreating Russian forces, however it’s uncommon for them to be focused by enemy hearth. It was not clear the place within the area the incident happened. The report couldn’t be independently verified.
“The State Emergency Service lost a part of its family,” mentioned its chief, Serhiy Kruk, in a put up on Facebook, which mentioned {that a} paramedic and one other particular person had additionally been injured within the assault. Experts had eliminated 7,300 mines within the week to Saturday, the service mentioned in a put up on the Telegram social messaging app.
The Ukrainian authorities have positioned Kherson’s regional capital metropolis underneath a weekend curfew due to unspecified threats posed by Russian forces and to facilitate the unimpeded work of Ukrainian regulation enforcement and navy.
Source: www.nytimes.com