Ukraine claims attack on Russian warships in occupied Crimea
Ukraine’s military intelligence says it struck two large landing ships in Sevastopol Bay in Russian-occupied Crimea.
Ukraine and Russia have attacked each other overnight, with Ukrainian drones striking Russian assets in Black Sea ports and Russia hitting several regions across Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv.
Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence unit claimed attacks on two Russian landing ships and a radar station in Sevastopol Bay in Russian-occupied Crimea. It says the $150m vessels were successfully hit and radar equipment destroyed.
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In Russia, Ukrainian drones targeted the port of Tuapse, killing at least one person, injuring another and damaging transport infrastructure, according to regional governor Veniamin Kondratiev.
The strike was the second on the port in three days, hours after a fire from a previous attack was extinguished.
Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Audrey Macalpine said: “We heard from the Ukraine General Staff of the Armed Forces about an attack on the same oil refinery on April 16 – this is an effort to disrupt Moscow’s war funding.
“We know European partners have asked [Ukraine’s President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy to scale back attacks on Russian oil exports. Zelenskyy did not specify which countries these were, but said he was waiting for sanctions on Russian oil to be reimposed.
“As we know, those sanctions have not been reimposed. In fact, the United States has extended that sanctions waiver until May 16, which allows oil already loaded onto ships to be sold.
“So, Ukraine’s actions may speak louder than its words. While this sanctions waiver is in place, we have seen Ukraine has continued to strike Russian exports.”
Ukraine reported a series of Russian attacks on Ukrainian territory overnight, including in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Sumy and Zaporizhia regions.
Drones hit a car in the city of Putyvl in Ukraine’s border region of Sumy, injuring three women, as well as two homes in Kyiv’s Brovary district, damaging them and injuring one person, according to Ukrainian officials.
“Tonight, the enemy is again attacking the Kyiv region with drones. Under the sights are peaceful people, homes,” said Kyiv regional military administration head Mykola Kalashnyk.
Russian attacks also damaged railway infrastructure in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Over the past 24 hours, Russian attacks in the Kherson region killed one person and injured seven, while injuring four others in the Zaporizhia region, Ukrainian officials said.
Moscow’s forces have hit civilian areas almost daily since the all-out invasion of its neighbour more than four years ago, with the regular assaults occasionally punctuated by massive attacks.
More than 15,000 Ukrainian civilians have died in the strikes, according to the United Nations.
There have been several rounds of United States-brokered negotiations in recent months, but they have failed to reach an agreement to stop the fighting, with the process further stalled since the outbreak of the US-Israel war on Iran.
Even before the war on Iran, progress towards a peace deal in Ukraine had been slow, due to differences over territorial issues.
Ukraine has proposed freezing the conflict along current front lines. Russia rejects that, saying it wants the whole of the Donetsk region, despite it being partly controlled by Ukraine – a demand Kyiv says is unacceptable.