Russia Fights Drone Attack on Black Sea Fleet Headquarters

A drone strike reached into the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea fleet in Crimea on Saturday. Sevastopol's governor said Russian forces shot down the drone as it approached, though no independent source verified that. Ukraine didn't say whether it launched the strike, though it posted video of smoke rising from the site in the Russian-held territory, the Washington Post reports. Crimean officials said "attacks by small drones" set off air-defense systems, which protected the targets, per the AP. "There are no casualties or material damage," a Crimean official said.

Both sides have increasing focused on the region. Ukraine, which has said it's launched a campaign against Russian forces on the peninsula, is trying to cause destruction and chaos there in an attempt to loosen Moscow's grip, per the New York Times. In response, Russia is stepping up security, "indicating growing worry … about the threat of Ukrainian strikes on rear areas previously believed to be secure," the Institute for the Study of War said. A US intelligence official said a Ukrainian attack Aug 9. on the Saki air base "put more than half of Black Sea fleet's naval aviation combat jets out of use," per Reuters. Russia also changed fleet commanders this week. (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)