WORLD NEWS | Six drones shot down in Crimea, governor says

Moscow [Russia]May 25 (ANI): Six drones were shot down or blocked overnight in Russia’s annexed Crimea, the governor said on Thursday.

Sergei Aksyonov wrote on Telegram: “During the past night, six drones were shot down or intercepted in different parts of Crimea … no casualties.”

Read also | Senior Pakistani journalist Sami Abraham has been “kidnapped” by unidentified men in Islamabad and is demanding compensation from his family.

Crimea was an internationally recognized part of Ukraine until Russia illegally occupied it after the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.

A referendum was held in Crimea, with a majority expressing their desire to join the Russian Federation.

Read also | Dates, themes and significance of Africa Day 2023: everything you need to know about the day celebrating the founding of the Organization of African Unity.

Crimea is strategically located, surrounded on three sides by the sea. This allows Crimea to establish proper links with the rest of the world.

Mainland Russia has no access to the high seas off the southwestern side of its continent. So gaining hegemony over Crimea would give the Russian government year-round access to the Mediterranean.

Given the importance of the Crimean peninsula, Moscow opened a bridge connecting Crimea and Russia across the Kerch Strait shaken by the explosion in October 2022.

The incident came after Moscow deployed jets and artillery to strike an armed group crossing the border from Ukraine, its heaviest attack on its territory since Moscow launched an offensive in February 2022.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, said on Wednesday that the region had become the target of numerous drones overnight.

Regional authorities said 13 people were injured as the area came under sustained artillery and mortar fire.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said a new wave of Russian drone strikes overnight in several cities, including Kiev, missed their targets, CNN reported.

Ukraine’s air defenses repelled all 36 drones launched by Russia overnight over cities including Kiev, Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday.

“It was not an easy night. As the enemy continued to terrorize Ukraine, they used 36 Shaheds (attack drones). None of them reached their target,” President Vladimir Zelensky said in a statement explain.

Earlier in the day, Russian troops shelled five neighborhoods in Sumy region, firing more than 84 shells using various types of artillery weapons, according to the Ukrainian military, Kiev Independent reported.

In addition, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the KGB, reportedly detained two Ukrainian saboteurs.

According to Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency, the ministry claimed that the two were plotting to blow up the power towers of the Russian nuclear power plant. (Arnie)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)