MOSCOW – At least one Ukrainian missile struck the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea navy in the Crimean port of Sevastopol on Friday, and a major cyberattack interrupted Internet services on the peninsula, Russian-installed officials said.
Russia’s defence ministry said one serviceman was missing after the attack, revising its earlier statement that the man had been killed. Air defences had downed a total of five missiles, the ministry said.
Ukraine’s military confirmed it had attacked the Russian Black Sea fleet’s headquarters, but gave few details.
“On Sept 22, close to 12:00 (0900 GMT) Ukraine’s defence forces successfully struck the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea fleet command in the temporarily occupied Sevastopol,” it said on the Telegram messaging app.
The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mr Mikhail Razvozhayev, said the attack had caused a fire and people were being urged to avoid the city centre where the navy building is located, with firefighters working and some roads closed.
Mr Razvozhayev said there were no civilian casualties or damage to civilian infrastructure in his report on the incident on Telegram.
Ukraine has intensified attacks in the Black Sea and Crimea, which was seized and annexed by Russia in 2014, as Ukrainian forces press on with a nearly four-month-old counteroffensive.
Ukrainian officials have described attacks on Russian military targets in Russian-held territory as legitimate.
Mr Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council, said there were two options for the future of the Russia’s Black Sea fleet – voluntary or forced “self-neutralisation”.
If it did not choose the voluntary option, it “will be sliced up like a salami,” he said on X.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Crimea “will definitely be demilitarised and liberated”. Moscow has said it will never give up the peninsula.
Russian-installed authorities said air defences downed another missile on Friday near the town of Bakhchysarai.
Separately, Mr Oleg Kryuchkov, an aide to the Russian-installed head of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov, said Internet service providers on the peninsula were under an “unprecedented cyberattack”, leading to interruptions in service. REUTERS
