News Feed

Moscow claims it repelled Kyiv’s ‘attempts’ to strike occupied Crimea, bordering Russian regions

2 min read
Moscow claims it repelled Kyiv’s ‘attempts’ to strike occupied Crimea, bordering Russian regions
View into one of the bays of Sevastopol, Feb. 14, 2024, in occupied Crimea. Illustrative purposes. (Ulf Mauder/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed on May 19 that it repelled Kyiv’s “attempts” to strike occupied Crimea and bordering Russian regions overnight, as Ukrainian media reported explosions on the peninsula.  

Moscow claims that it had shot down nine U.S.-provided long-range ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles, and a drone over Crimea. Kyiv usually refrains from commenting on its attacks on Crimea or Russia, and it has not reacted to the emerging reports by the publication time.

In its report, shared on the Telegram messaging app, Russia’s Defense Ministry also claimed to have intercepted dozens of drones over Belgorod Oblast and Krasnodar Krai in Russia.

The Crimean branch of Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne reported, citing its sources on the occupied peninsula, that explosions were heard in occupied Sevastopol, Yevpatoria, and the outskirts of Simferopol.

"Very powerful explosions, at least five, were heard in the city. The windows in the apartment were shaking," an unidentified local resident in Sevastopol told Suspilne Crimea.

Since summer 2022, Ukraine has been actively striking military targets in occupied Crimea and sometimes deep into Russia in an ambitious campaign to reduce Russia’s resources before they get to the Ukrainian front line. Ukraine has especially excelled at its attacks on the Russian Black Sea Fleet, inflicting damage on top-notch warships from afar.

And on May 19, Russian proxy official in Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said at around midnight that the air defense was working. He said no damage to civilian infrastructure was recorded.

The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the reports of the overnight strikes.

Opinion: What’s left of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet?
Russia’s war against Ukraine is shattering the conventions of warfare in many ways. One of the most illustrative examples is the systematic destruction of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet (BSF) by Ukraine, a country that has virtually no navy of its own. The Ukrainian military’s use of coastal
Article image

Avatar
Asami Terajima

Reporter

Asami Terajima is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent covering Ukrainian military issues, front-line developments, and politics. She is the co-author of the weekly War Notes newsletter. She previously worked as a business reporter for the Kyiv Post focusing on international trade, infrastructure, investment, and energy. Originally from Japan, Terajima moved to Ukraine during childhood and completed her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in the U.S. She is the winner of the Thomson Reuters Foundation's Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism 2023 (Local Reporter category) and the George Weidenfeld Prize, awarded as part of Germany's Axel Springer Prize 2023. She was also featured in the Media Development Foundation’s “25 under 25: Young and Bold” 2023 list of emerging media makers in Ukraine.

Read more
News Feed
Show More