Russian anti-aircraft defenses stopped a Ukrainian drone attack on Thursday against the city of Sevastopol, headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, located in the annexed Crimean peninsula.
Two drones were shot down by traditional air defense means near Sevastopol, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. Another nine were put out of action thanks to electronic warfare means and fell into the Black Sea.
According to this department, the attack on Sevastopol caused no casualties or material damage.
The ministry also confirmed the downing of two drones headed for Moscow. It is the second day in a row that the defenses of the capital have to act to eliminate this threat. Two more drones were shot down on Wednesday en route to the Russian capital.
The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Telegram that one of the devices was shot down in the Kaluga oblast, adjacent to the capital, and another over the Odintsovo district, already in the Moscow region and 50 kilometers from the city.
Attacks with drones on Russian territory have increased in recent months, in response to the military intervention of the Kremlin, which sent the Russian army to Ukraine in February 2022, causing a conflict that has lasted for more than 17 months.
Last May, a Ukrainian drone managed to reach the same territory of the Kremlin, where it was destroyed.
Civilian areas of the capital have also received impacts. Moscow’s financial district, Moscow-City, was hit at the end of May, and this month it has suffered two hits in three days.
According to the Baza Telegram channel, the Vnukovo airport, located in the southeast of Moscow, activated the “Kovior” (carpet) plan, which is generally applied when unknown or dangerous objects are detected in the sky. During the early morning, 11 flights had to be delayed.
In recent weeks Ukraine has also used remotely piloted boats against its enemy. With them he has attacked a fuel depot and the Russian naval base in Novorosisk, in Krasnodar, a region in southern Russia and the Black Sea, close to Crimea.
