Ukraine says it hit two Russian warships in strikes on Crimea

The Ukrainian military said it hit two large Russian landing ships in attacks on the annexed Crimean peninsula early on Sunday (24 March), as well as a communications centre and other infrastructure used by the Russian navy in the Black Sea.

The statement did not say how it hit the targets, but a Moscow-installed official in the region reported a major Ukrainian air attack and said air defences had shot down more than 10 missiles over the Crimean port of Sevastopol.

“The defence forces of Ukraine successfully hit the Azov and Yamal large landing ships, a communications centre and also several infrastructure facilities of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in temporarily occupied Crimea,” Ukraine’s military said.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, said on the Telegram messaging app that a 65-year-old man was killed when three homes were hit by shrapnel.

He also said earlier on Sunday that transport infrastructure including passenger boats and buses were partially damaged, with windows broken on five boats. Three passenger buses, 13 school buses and one trolley bus were among vehicles damaged, he added.

Reuters could not immediately verify the extent of any damage.

Fire at Russian power plant

A fire early on Monday at one of the largest thermal power plants in southwestern Russia took two of its units out of operation, briefly disrupting supply to customers, the region’s governor said.

But there were no casualties and authorities were investigating the cause of the fire at the Novocherkassk power plant in Rostov, the governor, Vasily Golubev, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces destroyed 11 drones launched overnight over Rostov by Ukraine, which borders the region, but did not say if there was any related damage.

The Baza Telegram news channel, which is close to Russian law enforcement, said the fire at the plant was caused by Ukraine’s drones, however.

Reuters could not independently verify the report. Ukraine made no immediate comment on the attacks.

Novocherkassk is one of the largest thermal power plants in Russia’s southwest, its owner, OGK-2, which is controlled by a subsidiary of Russia’s energy giant Gazprom, says on its website.

(Edited by Georgi Gotev)

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