After the ballistic missile was shot down, explosions rocked Crimea

A Telegram channel with links to Russian law enforcement agencies said Ukraine had sent a series of drones to Crimea and that Russian air defenses had shot down at least one over the port of Sevastopol.

According to the initial information of the channel, which is called Baza, there were no injuries.

Ukrainian channels on Telegram reported that explosions took place in Sevastopol and Saki, where Russia has an air base, as well as a few other places in Crimea.

Shooting down a ballistic missile

• On Saturday, a Ukrainian ballistic missile was shot down over Moscow’s annexed Crimea peninsula, in a rare event as Ukrainian forces say they are preparing for an imminent offensive.
• “Air defenses shot down over the Republic of Crimea a ballistic missile launched from a Ukrainian Grom-2 system. No damage or casualties,” Sergey Aksionov, the head of Crimea appointed by Moscow, wrote on Telegram.
• Later, one of his advisors, Oleg Kryuchkov, confirmed that two Grom-2 missiles were shot down, according to updated information.

April attack

• At the end of April, a drone attack caused a major fire in an oil depot in Sevastopol, the main port of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.
• This new announcement comes at a time when strikes with rallies, vandalism and alleged attacks have multiplied in recent weeks in Russia, and sometimes far from Ukraine, without clearly identifying the perpetrators.
• The Kremlin holds Kiev responsible, which denies it, as Ukrainian forces prepare for a major offensive and major celebrations approach in Russia on May 9, the anniversary of Victory Day over Nazism in 1945.

Since the summer of 2022, Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, has been a frequent target of air and sea drone attacks.