Russia stated on Friday that Ukraine launched a missile towards Moscow and attacked Crimea with 42 drones, as per reports, making it one of the largest known coordinated Ukrainian air strikes on Russian-held territory.
Kyiv has targeted Crimea since Moscow started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but the peninsula has recently been subjected to more intense, increased attacks.
#UPDATE Moscow says its forces thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to attack Russia-annexed Crimea with 42 drones overnight.
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 25, 2023
"Nine UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) were destroyed... over the territory of the Republic of Crimea. 33 UAVs were suppressed by electronic warfare and crashed… pic.twitter.com/LfeNUiZUHx
Ukrainian Drone Attacks
The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that Ukraine attempted to use drones in a terrorist attack against Russia at night using fixed-wing unmanned aerial aircraft.
According to the Ministry, “Air Defense aids detected forty-two unmanned aerial vehicles. As a result of the fire effect over the territory of the Republic of Crimea, nine drones were detected,” and shot down.
Reportedly, 33 other drones were “suppressed by electronic warfare and crashed without reaching the target,” the defence ministry said, without specifying whether there had been any damage or casualties.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, said on Telegram that several drones were destroyed in Cape Khersones over the Black Sea. The cape is located on the outskirts of Sevastopol, Russia’s Black Sea fleet’s home port.
According to the governor, emergency functions have not registered any harm to civilian infrastructure. Razvozhaev added, “Nevertheless, all the forces and functions are on alert.”
The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced that an Attack on the Kaluga Region of Western Russia by the Ukrainian Armed Forces utilizing a S-200 Surface-to-Air Missile has been Defeated by Air Defense Batteries in the Region.
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 24, 2023
Missile Attack on Moscow
According to the Russian Defence Ministry, a modified S-200 missile was shot down over the Kaluga area, which borders the Moscow region. Kaluga is only about 200 kilometres (124 miles) from Moscow.
The ministry confirmed, “An attempt of the Kyiv regime to make terrorist attacks against civilian facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation by a missile of the improved S-200 air defence system was prevented.”
According to Kaluga governor Vladislav Shapsha, there were no reported casualties.
Ukraine’s ‘Special Operation’ in Crimea
Ukraine’s navy and military intelligence conducted a “special operation” overnight, landing forces in Russian-occupied Crimea, as reported by the defence ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) on Thursday.
The special forces personnel landed on Crimea’s western shore near the villages of Olenivka and Mayak, where they “engaged in combat,” as stated by Ukraine’s HUR intelligence agency.
HUR claimed that “all goals” had been accomplished and that casualties had been inflicted, but it failed to specify the operation’s goals.
“The enemy suffered personnel losses, [and] enemy equipment was destroyed,” HUR stated, adding that the “state flag flew again in Ukrainian Crimea.”
The special operation occurred on Thursday, 24 August, as Ukraine celebrated its independence from the Soviet Union.