Massive Ukrainian drone attack in Crimea causes power cuts in Sevastopol

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A massive Ukrainian drone attack in Crimea on Friday morning caused power outages in the city of Sevastopol and set fire to a refinery in southern Russia, Russian authorities said.

The drone strikes marked Kiev’s attempt to counterattack during Moscow’s offensive in northeastern Ukraine, which has increased pressure on outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian forces waiting. late deliveries of crucial weapons and ammunition from Western partners.

The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 51 Ukrainian drones over Crimea, another 44 over the Krasnodar region and six over the Belgorod region. He said Russian warplanes and patrol boats also destroyed six maritime drones in the Black Sea.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, governor of Sevastopol, which is the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, said the drone attack damaged the city’s power plant. He said it could take a day to fully restore power supplies and warned residents that power would be cut in parts of the city.

“Community utilities are doing their best to restore the power system as quickly as possible,” he said in a statement.

Razvozhayev also announced that the city’s schools would be temporarily closed.

Previous Ukrainian strikes damaged aircraft and a fuel storage facility at Belbek air base near Sevastopol, according to satellite images released by Maxar Technologies.

In the Krasnodar region, authorities said a drone strike on Friday morning caused a fire at an oil refinery in Tuapse, which was later contained. There were no victims.

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted refineries and other energy facilities inside Russia, causing significant damage.

Ukrainian drones also attacked Novorossiysk, a major Black Sea port. Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said fragments from downed drones caused several fires but there were no casualties.

Belgorov Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a Ukrainian drone struck a vehicle, killing a woman and her 4-year-old son. Another attack set fire to a fuel tank at a gas station in the region, he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops were struggling to halt Russian advances in the region northeast of Kharkiv, which began late last week.

The city of Vovchansk, located just 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Russian border, has been a hot spot in the fighting in recent days. Ukrainian authorities evacuated around 8,000 civilians from the city. The Russian army’s usual tactic is to reduce cities and villages to ruins with air strikes before its units advance.

Russia has also been testing defenses at other points along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line that snakes north-south through eastern Ukraine. That line has barely changed over the past 18 months in what has become a war of attrition. The recent Russian attacks took place in the eastern Donetsk region, as well as the northern Chernihiv and Sumy regions and the southern Zaporizhzhia region. The apparent aim is to stretch depleted Ukrainian resources and exploit weaknesses.

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