At least one Ukrainian missile has struck the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea navy in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, and a major cyber attack has interrupted internet services on the peninsula, Russian-installed officials said.
Russia’s defence ministry said one serviceman was missing after the attack, revising its earlier statement that the man had been killed.
Ukraine’s military confirmed it had attacked the Russian Black Sea fleet’s headquarters, but gave few details.
“On September 22 close to 12:00 (local time) Ukraine’s defence forces successfully struck the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea fleet command in the temporarily occupied Sevastopol,” it said on the Telegram messaging app.
The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said the attack had caused a fire and people were being urged to avoid the city centre where the navy building is located, with firefighters working and some roads closed.
Razvozhayev said there were no civilian casualties or damage to civilian infrastructure in his report on the incident on Telegram.
Ukraine intensifies attacks on Crimea
Ukrainian officials have described attacks on Russian military targets in Russian-held territory as legitimate.
Crimea was seized and annexed by Russia in 2014.
Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council said there were two options for the future of the Russia’s Black Sea fleet – voluntary or forced “self-neutralisation”.
If it did not choose the voluntary option, it “will be sliced up like a salami,” he said on X.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Crimea “will definitely be demilitarised and liberated”.
Moscow vows never to give up on peninsula.
Air defences had downed a total of five missiles, Russia’s defence ministry said.
Russian-installed authorities said air defences downed another missile on Friday (local time) near the town of Bakhchysarai.
Separately, Oleg Kryuchkov, an aide to Crimea head Sergei Aksyonov, said internet service providers on the peninsula were under an “unprecedented cyber attack”, leading to interruptions in service.
Poland stokes diplomatic furore with Ukraine
Poland’s prime minister has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy not to “insult” Poles, in a simmering row over grain imports.
Poland decided last week to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports, shaking Kyiv’s relationship with a neighbour that has been seen as one of its staunchest allies since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.
Zelenskiy angered his neighbours when he told the United Nations General Assembly in New York that Kyiv was working to preserve land routes for grain exports, but that the “political theatre” around grain imports was only helping Moscow.
“I… want to tell President Zelenskiy never to insult Poles again, as he did recently during his speech at the UN,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told an election rally.
Poland holds a parliamentary election on October 15, and Morawiecki’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party has come in for criticism from the far right for what it says is the government’s subservient attitude to Ukraine.
Analysts say this has forced PiS, which looks set to remain the biggest party but may not secure a majority, to adopt a more confrontational approach to Kyiv in the closely fought campaign.
—AAP
