Ukraine reportedly conducted an underwater drone raid on occupied Crimea’s city of Sevastopol, hosting Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Russia claims its naval forces successfully thwarted the night attack. Kyiv’s military maintains ambiguity, neither confirming nor denying their involvement, leaving the situation uncertain.
Commenting to Liga, Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesman for the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, refrained from confirming or denying the involvement of Ukrainian drones in the incident. The Ukrainian military has yet to provide a clear response to these events. However, in most cases the Ukrainian forces do not confirm their involvement in the attacks on the occupied peninsula.
“At the same time, we can note that combat operations in the occupied territory will continue on a regular basis. The Navy once again reminds that Russian occupiers have no place in Crimea,” Pletenchuk added.
Commenting on the explosions in Sevastopol, Natalia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for the Southern Operational Command, said during a national telethon that “Ukraine’s task at this stage is to destroy the enemy’s potential as much as possible – everything that it can still use,” according to Liga.
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) claimed their naval forces had successfully repelled the attack by three Ukrainian uncrewed boats in the Black Sea near the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula. The event, taking place in the early morning hours, was accompanied by the sounds of explosions and gunfire.
Russia’s MoD stated its forces detected at 4 in the morning and subsequently destroyed the three uncrewed boats using anti-sabotage missile and bomb systems, emphasizing that operations were being carried out to secure the area around Sevastopol’s port, a critical location for Russia’s Black Sea fleet.
According to local Telegram channels, Sevastopol residents heard the first sound of an explosion at 03:35 a.m. on 24 October, and the second at about 03:40. Residents of Sevastopol reported that they heard the sound of shooting around the same time.
The chief of the Russian occupation authorities in Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said that the Russian Black Sea Fleet was allegedly repelling “an underwater sabotage” attack:
“Loud sounds – from an external raid – the Black Sea Fleet is battling a probable attack by underwater diversionary forces,” he wrote.
The leader of the occupiers in Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, later backed the claim.
Previous Ukrainian attacks on the Sevastopol Bay area made Russians boost security measures in the harbor and relocate many navy assets to safer bases.
- A night missile attack on 13 September 2023 severely damaged a large amphibious assault ship and destroyed a submarine at a shipyard in Sevastopol.
- On 14 September, Ukraine struck two Russian patrol ships in the Black Sea and damaged the corvette Sergei Kotov.
- On 22 September, the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was destroyed by a Ukrainian missile attack in occupied Sevastopol.
- On 11 October, Ukraine’s Sea Baby experimental naval explosive drones attacked the Buyan cruise missile carrier ship and the large patrol ship Pavel Derzhavin of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea.
- On 18 October, Sevastopolers heard a loud blast amid an ongoing air raid alert, as the occupation authorities claimed a Ukrainian missile was shot down near the city.
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