One person was killed, two injured and a large landing ship called Novocherkassk was damaged in an overnight Ukrainian attack on the Crimean port city of Feodosia, Russia’s defence ministry and officials said.
The Interfax news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying that Ukraine had used guided missiles launched by aircraft to attack Feodosia.
Reuters reported that the Russia-installed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said on the Telegram messaging app that one person had been killed and two injured as a result of the attack.
There was no immediate report of how badly the ship was damaged, but videos circulating on Ukrainian channels showed an extensive fire in the port area.
Key events
Ukraine carried out an air attack on Feodosia in Crimea, the country’s air force commander said on Tuesday, after the Russian-installed governor of the Crimea said the assault sparked a fire in the town’s port area.
Reuters reports that the commander of Ukraine’s air force, Lieut Gen Mykola Oleshchuk, said on Telegram, without providing evidence, that the attack destroyed a major Russian navy vessel, the landing ship Novocherkask.
Oleshchuk said:
And the fleet in Russia is getting smaller and smaller! Thanks to the Air Force pilots and everyone involved for the filigree work!
The report could not be independently verified and there was no immediate comment from Russia.
Both Russia and Ukraine have often exaggerated the losses they claim to have inflicted upon each other in the 22-month-long war, while underestimated their own casualty and equipment losses.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed governor of Crimea, said only that the Ukrainian attack resulted in a fire in the town’s port area that was promptly contained.
Aksyonov said on the Telegram:
All relevant emergency services are on site. Residents of several houses will be evacuated.
Footage posted on several Russian news outlets on Telegram showed powerful explosions and fires over a port area.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in a broadly condemned move in 2014.
This marks the continuation of live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine on this 26 December. Here’s an overview of the latest news.
Ukraine carried out an air attack in Crimea and destroyed a major Russian navy vessel, Ukraine’s air force commander has said.
A huge explosion and fireball engulfed part of the Crimean port of Feodosia early on Tuesday morning. An initial fire was followed by a massive secondary explosion.
The commander of Ukraine’s air force, Lieut Gen Mykola Oleshchuk, said on Telegram that the attack destroyed a major Russian Navy vessel, the landing ship Novocherkask.
The Russian-installed governor of Crimea said earlier that the assault sparked a fire in Feodosia.
More on that that story soon. In other developments:
Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers has submitted to parliament a draft law lowering the age of those who can be mobilised for combat duty to 25 from 27. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine’s president, said a week ago that the military had proposed mobilising up to half a million more Ukrainians but it was a “highly sensitive” issue that the military and government would have to discuss.
The Ukrainian military shot down 28 Russian drones out of 31 launched from the annexed Crimea peninsula, mostly targeting the south of the country, it said on Monday. Air defences also destroyed two missiles, it said.
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been located at a penal colony in the Arctic Yamal-Nenets region of northern Russia, his spokesperson has confirmed. Kira Yarmysh was quoted as saying Navalny’s lawyer managed to see him on Monday. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, expressed concern at the weekend about Navalny’s whereabouts as he had been missing in Russia’s prison system for nearly three weeks.
Russia said emergency workers had put out a fire on a Soviet-era nuclear-powered cargo-icebreaker ship. The state company that runs the vessel said on Monday there were no casualties and no threat to the security of the reactor.
Russia on Monday accused western countries of stirring up tensions in Moscow-friendly Serbia, which has been rocked by protests over alleged fraud in elections held on 17 December.
Five Russian UAVs (drones) over the region were “destroyed” by Ukrainian forces late on Sunday evening, said Serhiy Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region.
The Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union’s members have signed a free trade agreement with Iran, Russian news agency Tass has reported.
The Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, will pay a two-day visit to Russia, after skipping a summit in Kyrgyzstan Putin attended in October.