Russia Says It Shot Down A Drone Over Sevastopol As Crimea Attacks Heat Up

Coming two days after the Saturday drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol, there’s been another major incident in the skies over Crimea, early reports suggest. 

Russian as well as regional reporting has cited Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhaev who said air defenses surrounding the city were active Monday early evening (local time). Eyewitnesses have further reported multiple explosions over the city, leading to reports that a Ukrainian drone was shot down. 

#BREAKING #Russia‘s air defence system has been triggered near Sevastopol, Crimea, object, probably a drone, was shot down: Russian media pic.twitter.com/fUIMXSXba6

— Guy Elster (@guyelster) August 22, 2022

“At 18:15, in the Verkhnesadovoe district, air defenses were activated. The target was hit. At a high altitude, which is why the sound was audible in various parts of the city. Preliminary reports indicate that it was another drone. Keep calm — the city is well-protected,” Razvozhaev announced on Telegram.

“According to local media outlets, the sounds shook the walls of a shopping center and shattered windows,” according to Meduza. 

The past two days have seen multiple reported instances of small drone activity threatening Crimea. This after Ukraine’s President Zelensky earlier this month vowed for the first time to not stop fighting the Russians until the Crimean peninsula is “liberated”. 

The prior August 20 attack on a Black Sea Fleet HQ building involved Russian anti-air defenses apparently failing, given a suicide drone struck the target, resulting in a large explosion.

Ukraine-linked media accounts suggested that attacks on Crimea by US-supplied HIMARS attacks could come next, though it’s unclear if Washington has as yet transferred rockets with a long enough range to reach deep into Crimea.

Example of a Turkish-made TB2 Bayraktar drone operated by Ukraine. There’s also been speculation that small Chinese-made drones have operated over Crimea. 

Ukraine’s forces are now definitely taking up President Zelensky’s call to “liberate” Crimea, given the intensifying assaults of the past two weeks:

On August 19, Russian air defenses were activated in the eastern city of Kerch, which is the terminus of the Crimea Bridge (also called the Kerch Strait Bridge), a high-profile, $4 billion project to link the occupied Ukrainian region with the Russian mainland. No damage to the bridge or the city was reported in the incident.

Ukrainian officials have avoided publicly claiming responsibility for the explosions, but an unnamed senior Ukrainian official was quoted in The New York Times as saying an elite Ukrainian military unit operating behind enemy lines was carrying out at least some of the attacks.

On August 10, Zelensky said in a Western media interview, “Crimea is Ukrainian and we will never give it up.” Zelensky said: “This Russian war against Ukraine and against the entire free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea – with its liberation.” 

Other Ukrainian top defense officials have recently spoken of covert attempts at sowing “chaos” far behind Russian lines, in order to hurt military logistics chains as well as Russia’s ability to conduct long-range airstrikes with aircraft. A prior ‘mystery’ blast at an air base in Crimea saw multiple Russian fighter jets destroyed.