Russia’s defense ministry said on Friday that it shot down 36 drones over the seized peninsula to repel an invasion by Ukraine that same day.
The defense ministry said in a Telegram message that Kyiv’s effort to “attack using aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles against targets on the territory of the Russian Federation was thwarted”.
It said its air defence systems “destroyed and intercepted” 36 Ukrainian drones over Crimea, a peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014 and which Kyiv has vowed to reclaim.
Another Ukrainian drone over Russia’s western Krasnodar region was destroyed, the ministry added.
Kyiv has struck the Russian-controlled territory throughout the war, launching missiles and drones at Sevastopol, Crimea’s largest city, in a bid to suppress Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet.
Moscow claimed that one person was hurt in an aircraft attack on a Russian command post close to the port city on Thursday, which Ukraine said it targeted.
The most recent attacks take place in the context of growing Russian and Ukrainian attacks on Russia and seized territories.
In his New Year’s speech last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky threatened to exact “wrath” on Russian forces in 2024, pointing out that Kyiv has increased its domestic armaments production.
Following an extraordinary attack on the Russian city of Belgorod over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to further up his military operations against Ukraine.
