Crimea hit in drone attack

Moscow (dpa) — Russia and Ukraine launched drone attacks against each other late Sunday, causing casualties and damage, according to local officials and media reports.

Ukrainian forces targeted several sites on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula with drones, Russian authorities said.

A sanatorium in the southern coastal town of Foros was hit, leaving at least two people dead and 15 injured, Moscow-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov told the TASS news agency. “The number of dead among them is still being determined,” he added.

Soon after, air raid sirens sounded in the port city of Sevastopol and Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev urged residents to seek shelter as air defences were activated. Air defence forces sprung into action and shot down three unmanned aerial vehicles over the port, according to TASS.

Earlier, Ukrainian officials reported a series of Russian drone attacks. Explosions from drones in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava caused fires and property damage, said regional military administration chief Volodymyr Kogut. Drone incursions were also reported in surrounding settlements.