Kiev had planned to use the UAVs for a “terrorist attack,” the Russian Defense Ministry said
FILE PHOTO: The Balaklava Bay in Crimea, Russia, 2020. Konstantin Mikhalchevsky / Sputnik
Two Ukrainian drones have been disabled and brought down off the coast of Crimea on Monday evening, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Kiev has stepped up unmanned aircraft attacks on Russian soil in recent months.
The UAVs on a mission to “conduct a terrorist attack” were intercepted around 11 pm local time, the ministry said in a brief statement in the early hours of Tuesday.
“The two Ukrainian drones have been spotted by the air defenses and downed with the means of electronic warfare,” the MOD said. It added that the UAVs then veered off course, crashing into the Black Sea 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) northwest of the Crimean Peninsula.
Kiev has increased drone attacks in Crimea and elsewhere in Russia in recent months. According to Russian officials, a drone heading for Moscow was downed on Monday morning. Multiple UAVs were shot down over the weekend in the Belgorod Region, which shares a border with Ukraine, the local governor said.
READ MORE: Russian air defense shoots down multiple targets near Belgorod – governor
Several unmanned aircraft crashed in Moscow’s financial district this month, without causing any fatalities. On July 17, a Ukrainian seaborne drone struck the long bridge, which connects Crimea with mainland Russia, killing two people and injuring a teenage girl. Moscow responded to the attack on the bridge by striking port infrastructure in the Ukrainian city of Odessa.
