Russia thwarted an attack by 20 Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow-annexed Crimea overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday.
Fourteen drones were shot down by Russian air defenses and a further six were jammed electronically, the ministry said in a Telegram post. No casualties or damage were reported. Kyiv officials neither confirmed nor denied Ukraine’s involvement in the attacks.
As videos circulated on Russian social media Saturday appearing to show smoke rising above a bridge linking Russia to Crimea, the annexed peninsula’s Moscow-appointed governor, Sergei Aksyonov, reported that Russian air defense had also prevented an attack there by shooting down two Ukrainian missiles.
The bridge was not damaged, he said, although traffic was briefly halted. An adviser to Aksyonov, Oleg Kryuchkov, claimed that “a smoke screen was put up by special services.”
Russia's Foreign Ministry “strongly condemned” the attempted attack on the Crimean bridge. The ministry said in a statement that such “barbaric actions” by the Armed Forces of Ukraine “will not go unanswered.”
Shortly after reporting the downing of the two Ukrainian missiles, Aksyonov said Russian air defense had shot down another missile over the Kerch Strait.
The bridge connecting Crimea and Russia across the Kerch Strait carries heavy significance for Moscow, both logistically and psychologically, as a key artery for military and civilian supplies and as an assertion of Kremlin control of the peninsula it illegally annexed in 2014.
Last week, a Ukrainian sea drone hit a Russian tanker near the bridge, while an attack on the bridge last month killed a couple and seriously wounded their daughter, leaving a span of the roadway hanging perilously. The damage appeared to be less severe than that caused by an assault in October, but it again highlighted the bridge’s vulnerability.
The attempted drone and missile attacks follow three consecutive days of drone attacks on the Russian capital, Moscow. Firing drones at Russia, after more than 17 months of war, has little apparent military value for Ukraine but the strategy has served to unsettle Russians and bring home to them the conflict’s consequences.
Drone attacks have increased in recent weeks both on Moscow and on Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 — a move that most of the world considered illegal.
Elsewhere, Russia claimed Saturday it had regained control of the village of Urozhaine in Ukraine’s easternmost Luhansk region in an overnight counterattack.
A 73-year-old woman was killed early Saturday morning in Russian shelling of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, according to regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.
Ukrainian internal affairs minister Ihor Klymenko said a police officer was killed and 12 people wounded when a guided Russian aerial bomb hit the city of Orikhiv in Ukraine’s partially occupied southern Zaporizhzhia region. Four of the wounded were also police officers, he said.
In the neighboring Kherson province, regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said that two people were wounded in Russian attacks on Saturday. A 70-year-old was wounded when a shell hit a residential building in the village of Ponyativka, while a man, 72, was hurt when a drone dropped explosives on the village of Odradokamyanka.
A 70-year-old man was wounded when a shell hit a residential building in the village of Ponyativka, while a 72-
Local officials said explosions rang out Saturday morning in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, but that there were no known casualties.
On Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, the city of Odesa opened several beaches for the first time since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Odesa Gov. Oleh Kiper said that six beaches were open, but he stressed that accessing beaches during air raid alerts was forbidden.
The strategic port and key hub for exporting grain has been subject to repeated missile and drone attacks — particularly since Moscow canceled a landmark grain deal last month amid Kyiv’s grinding efforts to retake its occupied territories — while Russian mines have regularly washed up on the city’s beaches.
Associated Press writer Elise Morton in London contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
34 Comments
Thuban
Not only has Zelensky's "counteroffensive" completely failed but now the Russians are establishing control over more areas.
Zelensky had to fire his entire team in charge of the draft because of the vast amount of Ukrainians paying bribes to avoid been forced into the army.
Ukrainian families don't want their sons and fathers to die in a pointless war and it's common place to gather all the savings from relatives to pay off local conscription officers to fudge paperwork so their boys don't get sent to their deaths.
It's time for a ceasefire and peaceful negotiations.
TaiwanIsNotChina
I have a feeling this will be the future for Russia and it is one that they have asked for.
WA4TKG
Too bad
2020hindsights
Thuban
Elsewhere, Russia claimed Saturday it had regained control of the village of Urozhaine in Ukraine’s easternmost Luhansk region in an overnight counterattack.
No, Russia are not establishing control over more areas. Russia may have claimed it has regained control, but it isn't.
This is true.
True. But while they see that this is a pointless war, they will defend their homeland with their lives.
Unfortunately, Putin doesn't want to negotiate peace.
ok1517
So, let me see:
The Kerch bridge is on fire again, hit by at least 2 explosions (UAVs, missiles??).
The Ukrainian Army has taken Urozhaine tonight.
Ukrainians advance 16-20 kilometers in 'tactically significant' move. (accord. to Russian news, too).
The Ru(b)ble's value is decreasing day by day.
Ukrainian forces in Kherson region have crossed the Dnipro River at several points.
Russian Telegram channels say the Ukrainian Army's capture of Urozhaynoye is "a matter of time."But, yes, all looking good!
Ukraine prevails!
Yrral
It for the US to defund this war,the sooner the better for the sake of the US or this will be another moneypit
Yrral
Instead of condemning it ,maybe he should have the appropriate response,at least it will save American taxpayer money
Yrral
Defund this war
Yrral
Only way too get rid of Putin,is too march straight down to red square and issue an eviction notice,the US is not threatened by Russian,if you not gonna do this ,it a lost cause
Kuku
You're all talking about Urozhainoye here, as if you know what it is :))))) As if it's Kiev or Odessa :)))) Don't make people laugh:))) Urozhainoye is a little settlement, which has a very convenient location for shelling. On hills. For 12 days Russians defended this place. But today some TG channels reported that the Ukrainians have recaptured Urozhainoye. At the cost of a huge number of lives of their fighters. All those who wrote this are shocked by the number of Ukrainians killed. And yes, all the same, this event will not give Ukrainians any advantage. En plus the recapture is not still confirmed by correspondents on place.
Yrral
Kuku,what happened to all mighty Russian army,that cannot do anything tactical right ,you will be at the mercy of the US ,with crippling sanction,if your ship are still lifting
HappyDaruma
My wishful thinking is that NATO will prevail and both Russia and China will be cut into smaller pieces, more manageable by the rules based world.
Yrral
Putin at the put ,do have any choice,but too go nuclear or Russia will be sitting duck ,to be carve up and served to it host
Kuku
Calm down, don't mess up the people, the bridge is not damaged
On the photo, where the bridge is visible in the smoke, there is only a smoke screen, which was undertaken by Russians after the drone raid. The bridge continues to work. The author of the photo has already apologized.
Kuku
Russians say on this score: wishful thinking is not harmful:)))))
Better pray for the opposite
lincolnman
Sure....and the Moskva is still sailing around the Black Sea....
Nothing but pure Kremlin fantasy - even the Russian people laugh at it...
Don't believe a word that comes out of Putin's Potemkin Village disinformation factory...
Yrral
Ukraine want NATO to put a target on it back,while they still are one the corrupt country in Europe
Mark
Mark my words, we are living the early phases of world war 3 unless cool heads prevail.
Slowly but surly we are slipping closer and closer to an all out conflict that could ingulf Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa.
We the people must reject this War Mongers Mentalities and elect leaders that will lead us towards Peace and Prosperity, and sooner the better.
Kuku
Why are you ordering what to do? Adequate people will figure out whether to believe them or not. You'd better tell them how things are going in the Kupyansk direction:) Even your media write that there is a complete catastrophe there, Ukrainian soldiers are fleeing. And Kupyansk is not Urozhainoye, it's a town! A town with Russian population.
Strangerland
Only if Russia decides they need to increase the number of countries they are invading.
They started this war, they can escalate it, and they can end it. It's all on Russia. They are the the ones in needs of cooler heads to prevail. The rest of the world is just responding accordingly to their atrocities.
u_s__reamer
According to Putin's humanitarian values bombing a poor defenseless bridge is "barbaric"! How stupid do they think people are? They don't, but they don't care because humans in positions of power lie shamelessly when there are no consequences and no personal accountability.
PTownsend
The world is stuck between the western version of capitalism and the China/Russian bloc’s state capitalism both sides provoking wars to maintain power over fossil fuels, pleasing warmongers everywhere.
lincolnman
I'm offering an opinion which I'm free to do here - unlike Russia where if your daughter draws "an anti-art picture", you are carted off to the gulag...
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-father-whose-daughter-drew-anti-war-picture-given-two-years-jail-2023-03-28/
Adequate people might - rational, smart people see through the lies..
Why, is the Kremlin now saying the Moskva is sailing around there?
AlternativeOpinion
There will be no WW3, Russia may use nukes but it will be the end of Russia if they do. Not even China will be in their corner. In fact I would say that the biggest winner of The fall of Russia will be China. The amount of land they could swallow up before others could mobilize would be staggering.
bass4funk
And the end for most of the world.
i wouldn’t entirely disagree with that hypothesis.
kintsugi
Russia continues to do the same, shelling civilian targets while claiming to be the victim.
Snuggles
Except China.
Kind of a big friend.
The extreme lefties fail to recognize the continued antagonizing of nuclear equipped enemies does not help the security of the US or its allies.
La vie douce
The Kerch bridge is on fire again, hit by at least 2 explosions (UAVs, missiles??).
You really should check the news again before posting this. Even outlets such as CNN are reporting the Russian version of the missiles targeting the bridge being shot down. And CNN would be the first one to question it if there was any doubt about the Russian claims.
Nothing but pure Kremlin fantasy - even the Russian people laugh at it...Don't believe a word that comes out of Putin's Potemkin Village disinformation factory...
Is that so monsignor? Then please present the proof that Russia didnt shoot those drones down. Oh thats right, dont have any. Funny how some dont question when Ukraine says it shot down any number of Russian drones / missiles. ( which btw according to the JT pro war experts Russia has been running out of since last year) yet do the exact opposite when Russians say they shot UA drones down.
ClippetyClop
Do the extreme righties recognize that? Is that why they bend over and simp for Putin, Kim & Xi?
How's the new account working out?
2020hindsights
Snuggles
No, they don't. But Russia has made no friends, believe me.
China was a greater friend before Putin's invasion, but the invasion has put it in a difficult position. China even attended the peace conference in Saudi Arabia, which would be unheard of before.
kintsugi
American troops are not fighting in Ukraine.
UChosePoorly
We won the first Cold War. We will win the second one.
sunfunbun
Conservatives supporting Russia because they're upset with liberals is MAGA ridiculous. Go fascism and dictatorial governments over democracy is their cry. Traitors to their own country. This is a truth. Polarization on this issue by MAGA is completely irrelevant to what is happening to Ukraine, it's not about the two war foes, it's about MAGA narrative.
Admit it conservatives, you're not being patriots by rooting on Putin. It's not arguable, it's factual by critical thought, taking into account what is being said by the MAGA cult.
MAGA people don't care for America, only their cherry picked interpretation of their America and it's a narrative that follows much closer to a dictatorial government like Putin's, who's attack on Ukraine you support, over American democracy.
MAGA loves Putin over the US constitution. Quit using the American flag as if it is yours, start waving the Russian one. or the Nazi one. It's who you are.
HappyDaruma
NATO has to win, otherwise the magical credit card that allowed us to buy goods and raw materials from the developing world the last fifty years will be cancelled.