Drone attacks cripple ports in Crimea and Novorossiysk
"They blew up the port!" a resident of Novorossiysk screams in a recording published by the media. During the night, the Russian city was attacked by drones. Explosions also occurred in occupied Crimea. Russian air defence forces, Crimea defence forces, and the Russian navy repelled the attack.
The attack on occupied Crimea began during the night from Thursday to Friday. A representative of the occupation authorities of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, stated in Telegram that the military is "repelling an attack by unmanned aerial vehicles on Sevastopol." Drone debris fell on several objects, including a power substation. Part of the city was left without power.
Air and sea drone attack on Crimea
Crimea was attacked not only by aerial drones but also by sea drones. "Air defence forces, the navy, and Crimea defence forces are still destroying unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned boats in various areas of Sevastopol," added Razvozhayev.
An hour after the attack began, sirens also wailed in Novorossiysk, which is about 355 kilometres away in a straight line in Krasnodar Krai. It is home to one of the main ports of the Black Sea.
Residents of Novorossiysk claim that at least 35 explosions occurred in the city. Authorities had earlier stated that exercises were to be conducted at the port, but those were supposed to occur around 3 AM Greenwich Time. The attack happened around 1:16 AM Greenwich Time.
According to Astra, there were explosions at the port. In published videos, powerful, repeated explosions can be heard.
Moments later, the city lost power.
Powerful explosions in Novorossiysk
The WczK-OGPU channel published a video showing the attempt by Russian air defence forces to shoot down drones.
One of the residents of Novorossiysk shouts: "They blew up the port. They blew up our port!"
Another Russian woman filmed the moment of the explosion in Sevastopol. "Let's go to the basement" can be heard in the video.
Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Krasnodar Krai, stated in a message published after 8:12 PM Greenwich Time that "tonight, the regime in Kyiv unsuccessfully tried to attack civilian targets in the territory of Novorossiysk."
According to Kondratyev, about 10 drones were shot down. "Local fires broke out due to the fallen devices currently being put out. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties. I ask the residents of Novorossiysk to remain calm and not to post photos and videos of our air defence systems in action on social media," he appealed.
The WczK-OGPU channel reports that the target of the drone attack on Novorossiysk was the oil terminal and the Transneft terminal.
The governor of Sevastopol conveyed that "dozens of drones" and "more than five unmanned boats" were destroyed over the city.
