MOSCOW: Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday it had thwarted attacks by Ukrainian sea drones on its navy and civilian ships in the Black Sea, and a local governor said authorities had also downed a drone over the Crimean city of Sevastopol.
Kyiv denied that it had attacked civilian ships, without directly addressing the claim that it had attacked Russia’s navy.
“During the night the armed forces of Ukraine made an unsuccessful attempt to attack the Sergei Kotov and Vasiliy Bykov patrol ships of the Black Sea fleet with three unmanned sea boats,” Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement.
Later, the ministry said navy ships had destroyed three more sea drones targeting civilian vessels.
Ukrainian presidential official Mykhailo Podolyak said: “Undoubtedly, such statements by Russian officials are fictitious and do not contain even a shred of truth. Ukraine has not attacked, is not attacking and will not attack civilian vessels, nor any other civilian objects.”