The Russian Army shot down eight Ukrainian ATACMS missiles over the Sea of Azov and eight drones over the Black Sea, in addition to destroying two naval drones near the coast of the annexed Crimean peninsula, the Russian Defense Ministry reported this Thursday. “During the past night, a series of attempts by the kyiv regime to carry out terrorist attacks with the use of American-made ATACMS tactical missilesfixed-wing drones and naval drones against targets on Russian territory,” the Russian command said in a statement.
According to the source, “the guard air defense systems shot down 8 missiles over the Azov Sea and 8 drones over the Black Sea near the coast of the Crimea region.” In addition, “two naval drones heading to the Crimean peninsula were destroyed,” the military entity said.
Russia has warned that the use of NATO weapons against Russian territory can lead to “serious consequences”, especially for European countries that approve this practice, after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called for the use of use of Western weapons against Russian military targets inside the country.
In turn, the Ukrainian marine drones, which in mid-July last year damaged the Crimean bridge, which connects the peninsula with continental Russia, pose a threat to Russian naval superiority and would be forcing the Black Sea Fleet to abandon Sevastopol and move their bases to more distant ports.
For this reason, the Russian forces have prioritized the hangars where this type of drones are manufactured and stored. One of them was destroyed on March 6 in Odessa, at the same time that the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, were meeting in the port city.
Two ferries hit near the Kerch bridge
Two ferries were damaged this Thursday morning in a missile attack by the Ukrainian Army against infrastructure facilities in the city of Kerch, in eastern Crimea, and where the bridge linking the peninsula with mainland Russia is located. “During the repulsion of an enemy attack on transport infrastructure facilities in the city of Kerch, two ferries – a highway ferry and a railway ferry – have been damaged by the remains of downed missiles: the windows of the superstructures have damaged,” the Minister of Transport of the Crimea region, Nikolai Lukashenko, has published on his Telegram channel.
Afterwards, it has reported that there have been no casualties among the crew members or civilians, and that the voyage has been resumed once the damage assessment was completed.
The Kerch bridge has been attacked twice; in October 2022 and in July 2023. Ukraine attributes these attacks to the transportation of military logistical material, while Moscow considers them terrorist attacks.