Drone explosion hits Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters – The Mercury News

By SUSIE BLANN

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A small explosive gadget carried by a makeshift drone blew up Sunday on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet on the Crimean Peninsula, wounding six folks and prompting the cancellation of ceremonies there honoring Russia’s navy, authorities mentioned.

In the meantime, considered one of Ukraine’s richest males, a grain service provider, was killed in what Ukrainian authorities mentioned was a rigorously focused Russian missile strike on his dwelling.

There was no speedy declare of duty for the drone explosion on the naval headquarters. However the seemingly improvised, small-scale nature of the assault raised the chance that it was the work of Ukrainian insurgents making an attempt to drive out Russian forces.

The blast happened within the port metropolis of Sevastopol in Crimea, which was seized from Ukraine by Russia in 2014. Observances of Russia’s Navy Day vacation have been canceled in Sevastopol.

The Black Sea Fleet’s press service mentioned the drone seemed to be do-it-yourself. It described the explosive gadget as “low-power.” Sevastopol Mayor Mikhail Razvozhaev mentioned six folks have been wounded.

It was unclear the place the drone started its flight. Sevastopol is about 170 kilometers (100 miles) south of the Ukrainian mainland, and Russian forces management a lot of the mainland space alongside the Black Sea.

Within the wake of the explosion, Crimean authorities raised the terrorism menace stage for the area to “yellow,” the second-highest tier. Nonetheless, a Russian lawmaker from Crimea, Olga Kovitidi, instructed Russian state information company RIA-Novosti that conclusions in regards to the assault can’t be drawn till an investigation is full.

Ukraine’s navy and an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned the reported drone assault underlined the weak spot of Russian air defenses.

“Did the occupiers admit the helplessness of their air protection system? Or their helplessness in entrance of the Crimean partisans?” Oleksiy Arestovich mentioned on Telegram.

If such an assault is feasible by Ukraine, he mentioned, “the destruction of the Crimean bridge in such conditions not sounds unrealistic” — a reference to the span that Russia constructed to attach its mainland to Crimea after the annexation.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, the mayor of the foremost port metropolis of Mykolaiv, Vitaliy Kim, mentioned shelling killed considered one of Ukraine’s wealthiest males, Oleksiy Vadatursky, and his spouse, Raisa. Vadatursky headed a grain manufacturing and export enterprise.

One other presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, mentioned Vadatursky was particularly focused.

It “was not an accident, however a well-thought-out and arranged premeditated homicide. Vadatursky was one of many largest farmers within the nation, a key particular person within the area and a serious employer. That the precise hit of a rocket was not simply in a home, however in a particular wing, the bed room, leaves little question about aiming and adjusting the strike,” he mentioned.

Vadatursky’s agribusiness, Nibulon, features a fleet of ships for sending grain overseas.

Within the Sumy area in Ukraine’s north, close to the Russian border, shelling killed one particular person, the regional administration mentioned. And three folks died in assaults over the previous day within the Donetsk area, which is partly below the management of Russian-backed separatist forces, mentioned regional Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Podolyak mentioned on Twitter that pictures of the jail the place at the least 53 Ukrainian prisoners of warfare have been killed in an explosion on Friday indicated that the blast got here from throughout the constructing in Olenivka, which is below Russian management.

Russian officers have claimed the constructing was attacked by Ukraine with the goal of silencing POWs who may be giving details about Ukrainian army operations. Ukraine has blamed Russia for the explosion.

Satellite tv for pc photographs taken earlier than and after present {that a} small, squarish constructing in the midst of the jail complicated was demolished, its roof in splinters.

Podolyak mentioned these pictures and the dearth of injury to adjoining buildings confirmed that the constructing was not attacked from the air or by artillery. He contended the proof was in keeping with a thermobaric bomb, a robust gadget generally known as a vacuum bomb, being set off inside.

The Worldwide Crimson Cross requested to right away go to the jail to verify the scores of wounded POWs had correct remedy, however mentioned Sunday that its request had but to be granted. It mentioned that denying the Crimson Cross entry would violate the Geneva Conference on the rights of POWs.

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Comply with AP’s protection of the Russia-Ukraine warfare at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine