Ukraine has reported the destruction of “multiple” Russian cruise missiles as they were being transported by rail to Russia’s Black Sea fleet in Crimea. Ukraine’s military agency said late that multiple Kalibr cruise missiles were destroyed by an explosion, without explicitly saying Ukraine was responsible for the blast or exactly how the shipment of powerful missiles was destroyed.

 “An explosion in Dzhankoi city in the north of temporarily occupied Crimea destroyed Russian Kalibr-KN cruise missiles as they were being transported by rail,” Ukraine’s intelligence agency said in social media posts. The missiles were destined for submarine launch by the Russian Black Sea fleet, the agency said. Ihor Ivin, the Russian-installed head of the Dzhankoi administration, was quoted as saying the city had come under attack from drones and a 33-year-old man suffered a shrapnel injury from a downed drone.

He was hospitalized and was expected to survive. A house, school and grocery store caught fire, and the power grid also sustained damage in the attack, Russia’s state-owned news agency TASS quoted Ivin as saying on the local Krym-24 TV channel.

The Russian-appointed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov, said on social media that anti-aircraft weapons were fired in the vicinity of Dzhankoi, where Ukraine’s intelligence agency said the cruise missiles were destroyed. Aksenov said falling debris injured one person and damaged a home as well as a store. Russian officials did not confirm that missiles were destroyed in the attack. Ukrainian media reported that the sound of drone engines was heard before the explosion in Dzhankoi.

Kalibr cruise missiles have been used frequently in Russian attacks on Ukraine. In July 2022, a submarine-launched Kalibr cruise missile killed 23 civilians — including three children — in the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia. Russia claimed the missile was directed at a meeting of Ukrainian air force commanders and representatives of Western arms suppliers.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP