Moscow: In the largest recent aerial assault on the peninsula and a day after Kyiv claimed a special forces raid on the region, Russia said Friday that it had shot down 42 Ukrainian drones close to Crimea.Throughout Moscow's offensive against Ukraine, Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, has been the target of attacks from Kiev; however, in recent weeks, the intensity and number of these attacks have increased.
In the early hours of Friday, the defence ministry posted on Telegram that nine drones had been "destroyed... over the territory of the Republic of Crimea."
The report said that 33 more "were suppressed by electronic warfare and crashed without reaching the target," but it did not mention whether there had been any harm or casualties.
Earlier, a Russian-installed official in the area claimed that several drones had been sunk over the water near Cape Khersones in Crimea. The cape is situated close to Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based, in the southwest of the peninsula.
According to Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhayev on Telegram, emergency services did not report any damage to civilian infrastructure as a result of those drones. Whether they were among the 42 listed by the defence ministry was unclear.
"All forces and services are in a state of combat readiness," Razvozhayev declared. Kiev has reaffirmed its intention to retake Crimea.
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It has launched barrages of up to 28 aerial drones at Russian infrastructure on the peninsula in recent weeks. As part of a "special operation" to commemorate its second Independence Day during the war, Ukraine said on Thursday that its forces had landed on the peninsula and flown the national flag.
The western shore of Crimea is home to the towns of Olenivka and Mayak, where special forces troops had landed overnight and "engaged in combat," according to the GUR intelligence agency of Ukraine. Moscow has also charged Ukraine with attacking the Crimean bridge connecting the peninsula to Russia, which was constructed by Russia.
Multiple incidents, including a sizable explosion in October of last year, have forced the closure of the bridge. As news of the aerial assault spread, the Pentagon announced that it would start preparing Ukrainian F-16 pilots.
Kyiv has been looking for the jets for a while, but is currently mired in a laborious counteroffensive that aims to retake territory held by Russian forces. According to the White House, US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed plans to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets on Thursday.
Biden had earlier stated that he was "not surprised" by reports that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group and the instigator of a fleeting military coup in Russia, may have perished in a plane crash. Biden said, "I don't know exactly what happened, but I'm not surprised."
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In response to the news of the crash, Putin finally spoke out on Thursday and paid a cautious tribute to the paramilitary group and mercenary boss he oversaw. Putin said, "He was a man of complicated destiny, and he made grave errors in his life, but he achieved the right results.
Moscow's defence ministry reported on Friday that air defence systems had shot down a Ukrainian missile over the Kaluga region. The Moscow region, which Kaluga borders, has recently been the target of a flurry of Ukrainian drone attacks after Kyiv vowed to "return" the conflict to Russia.
The TASS news agency said on Friday, citing aviation services, that flights to and from Moscow's Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports were briefly suspended. The report did not provide a reason.