Ukrainian naval attack on the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk repelled: Russia | News on the Russia-Ukraine war

Moscow claims to have destroyed sea drones that launched an attack on the important oil port of Novorossiysk.

Russia said it had destroyed two Ukrainian sea drones that attacked the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, a key naval base and oil shipping port.

The Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Wednesday that Russian forces destroyed the naval drones as they advanced on the port in a nighttime attack. Ukraine has reported successful attacks on Russian ships and infrastructure in the Black Sea in recent months.

“Two unmanned boats heading towards Novorossiysk were destroyed in the waters of the Black Sea,” the ministry said in a Telegram post.

According to Russian state news agencies, the attack caused neither damage nor disruption to shipping traffic, the local city administration said.

The mayor of Novorossiysk, Andrei Kravchenko, restricted access to the beaches early Wednesday, but then gave the all-clear and reported minor damage to two buildings.

In May, a similar drone attack took place in Novorossiysk, one of the largest port cities on the Black Sea and on the annexed Crimean peninsula. Many of these cities were attacked by the Ukrainian army during the war.

Russia often downplays the damage to its naval assets and infrastructure, which is important for the export of raw materials that make up the bulk of its economy.

Novorossiysk is an important export route for oil and oil products as well as grain, coal, fertilizers and timber.

Following a series of Ukrainian attacks on Russian ships, Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet was withdrawn from its historic base in Sevastopol, Crimea, to Novorossiysk, much further from Ukraine.

Air campaign

In addition to repelling the naval attack, the Defense Ministry also reported that its air defenses intercepted ten drones launched into Russian territory, including one over the Moscow region.

Kyiv said its attacks on Russian military, transport and energy infrastructure were retaliation for Moscow’s ongoing attacks on Ukrainian territory since the Russian invasion in February 2022.

At least three people were killed and more than a dozen others injured in a Russian drone and missile attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the regional governor said on Wednesday.

The 29-month war between Russia and Ukraine has turned into a bloody war of attrition as the two sides continue to bombard each other’s territory with missiles and drones, leaving both sides with hundreds of thousands of casualties.

Last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose home country Ukraine is not entering into negotiations with Russia, said he was working on a “comprehensive plan” to end the war through diplomatic means.

During a surprise visit to Ukraine on Tuesday after his country took over the EU Council Presidency, Hungarian President Viktor Orbán called for a rapid ceasefire to enable negotiations.