Drone strike on Russian fleet halts Crimea festival; agribusiness owner dies in possible targeted attack: Ukraine updates
A drone attack at the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet wounded six people and shut down a festival marking Navy Day in the Crimean peninsula city of Sevastopol, the mayor said Sunday.
"There were no fatalities, six people were injured, two in moderate condition, the rest are in stable condition," Mayor Mikhail Razvozhaev said on social media.
The Black Sea Fleet’s press service said the drone appeared to be homemade and described the explosive device as “low-power." Crimean authorities raised the terrorism threat level for the region to “yellow,” the second-highest tier.
Sevastopol is about 100 miles south of the Ukrainian mainland and has been under Russian control since 2014, when the Kremlin illegally annexed Crimea. Russian forces also control much of the mainland coast area along the Black Sea. There was no immediate information on where the drone came from.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to take Crimea back from Russia. His top aide said the drone strike was a reflection of Russia's weak air defenses.
“Did the occupiers admit the helplessness of their air defense system? Or their helplessness in front of the Crimean partisans?" Oleksiy Arestovich said on Telegram.
Wealthy businessman killed in what Ukrainian official calls targeted attack
One of Ukraine’s wealthiest men and his wife were killed in their Mykolaiv home by a Russian missile strike that an Ukrainian official said was carefully targeted.
Oleksiy Vadatursky, who headed a grain production and export business and once was given the "Hero of Ukraine'' award for his contributions to the country, died alongside his wife, Raisa, in an early Sunday morning attack, regional Gov. Vitaliy Kim said.
Their killing comes just as Ukraine is about to resume exporting grain under a deal with Russia brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.
The southern port city of Mykolaiv came under heavy bombardment overnight, but presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Vadatursky, 74, was specifically targeted.
Vadatursky’s agribusiness, Nibulon, includes a fleet of ships for sending grain abroad.
It “was not an accident, but a well-thought-out and organized premeditated murder,'' Podolyak said. "Vadatursky was one of the largest farmers in the country, a key person in the region and a major employer. That the exact hit of a rocket was not just in a house, but in a specific wing, the bedroom, leaves no doubt about aiming and adjusting the strike.”
A drone attack at the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet wounded six people and shut down a festival marking Navy Day. Live updates.
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