Explosions reported in occupied Sevastopol

Local media and Russian occupation authorities reported several explosions in the port city of Sevastopol in occupied Crimea on Jan. 21.

Around three explosions were heard in the early afternoon, according to a local correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Crimean service.

Soon after, the head of the Russian-installed city authorities Mikhail Rozvozhaev reported that an airborne target had been shot down over the sea nearby.

Later in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that two Ukrainian missiles had been shot down over the western coast of Crimea.

As the full-scale war has developed, military facilities and infrastructure in Russian-occupied Crimea has become increasingly vulnerable to long-range Ukrainian drone and missile strikes.

Most spectactularly, separate Ukrainian strikes in September 2023, reportedly with British-made Storm Shadow missiles, destroyed a Russian landing ship, submarine, and the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.

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The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell