The headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine’s occupied Crimea area was hit by a drone assault early on August 20, a Russia-installed administrator reported.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed administrator of the port metropolis of Sevastopol, posted on Telegram that the drone crashed into the roof of the constructing and that there have been no casualties.

A video displaying a plume of smoke rising over the constructing was posted on social media.

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The identical day, occupation official Oleg Kryuchkov posted on Telegram that “assaults by small drones proceed” in numerous places round Crimea and urged civilians to “stay calm.”

“The aim shouldn’t be army however psychological,” he wrote. “The explosives are minimal and never able to inflicting important hurt.”

Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-imposed governor of Crimea, later reported taking pictures down Ukrainian drones.

“Air protection programs efficiently hit all targets over the territory over Crimea on Saturday morning. There aren’t any casualties or materials harm,” he mentioned on Telegram.

The claims can’t be independently verified.

Native media reported anti-aircraft exercise close to the western Crimean city of Yevpatoria, the southern city of Bakhchysaray, and the Crimean capital, Simferopol, on August 20.

The incidents got here simply in the future after Moscow confirmed that Vice Admiral Viktor Sokolov had taken over as commander of the fleet within the wake of a spate of setbacks.

It was additionally the second time the fleet’s headquarters had been attacked by a drone. In late July, Sevastopol canceled its celebrations to mark Russia’s Navy Day vacation after a bomb dropped by a drone injured six folks.

In April, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser Moskva, sank close to Crimea. Russia claimed a munitions explosion precipitated the harm that sank the ship, whereas Ukraine claimed it had sunk the vessel with a missile strike.

On August 9, a Russian army air base in Crimea was rocked by a number of explosions that destroyed no less than 9 army plane. Germany’s dpa information company on August 19 quoted Western army officers as saying the assault on the Saky air base had put greater than half of the Black Sea Fleet’s plane out of fee and compelled the fleet right into a defensive posture.

On August 19, Russian air defenses have been activated within the japanese metropolis of Kerch, which is the terminus of the Crimea Bridge (additionally referred to as the Kerch Strait Bridge), a high-profile, $4 billion undertaking to hyperlink the occupied Ukrainian area with the Russian mainland. No harm to the bridge or the town was reported within the incident.

Ukrainian officers have prevented publicly claiming duty for the explosions, however an unnamed senior Ukrainian official was quoted in The New York Instances as saying an elite Ukrainian army unit working behind enemy strains was finishing up no less than a number of the assaults.

Combating Intensifies In Ukraine’s South And East

Combating in southern Ukrainian areas simply north of Crimea has stepped up in latest weeks as Ukrainian forces attempt to drive Russian forces out of cities they’ve occupied since early within the struggle.

Ukrainian officers mentioned Russian shelling wounded 12 folks, together with three youngsters, and broken homes and an condominium block within the city of Voznesensk within the Mykolayiv area on August 20. Two of the kids have been mentioned to be in severe situation.

Voznesensk is about 30 kilometers from the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear energy plant, the second largest in Ukraine. There have been no reviews of any harm to the nuclear plant.

The Ukrainian army mentioned on April 20 it had destroyed a prized Russian radar system and different gear stationed in occupied areas within the southern Zaporizhzhya area.

“Tonight, there have been highly effective explosions in Melitopol, which the entire metropolis heard,” the Ukrainian mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Ferodov, mentioned. “In accordance with preliminary information, [it was] a exact hit on one of many Russian army bases, which the Russian fascists try to revive for the umpteenth time within the airfield space.”

The claims can’t be independently verified.

Within the east, Ukraine’s army Common Employees mentioned that intensified fight came about round Bakhmut, a small metropolis that has been a key goal of Moscow’s japanese offensive for weeks.

A neighborhood Ukrainian official reported sustained preventing close to 4 settlements on the border of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, which collectively make up the contested Donbas area. The official didn’t identify the settlements.

With reporting by AP, dpa, and RFE/RL’s Russian Service