Russia's defence ministry says Ukrainian sea drones attacked a Russian navy base near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, a major hub for Russian exports, and were destroyed.
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The attack prompted the Novorossiysk port to temporarily halt all ship movement, according to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium which operates an oil terminal there.
Russian social media users reported hearing explosions and gunfire near Novorossiysk on Friday morning. If confirmed it would be the first Ukrainian attack on one of Russia's main commercial ports.
The consortium said its facilities had not been damaged and oil loadings continued onto tankers which were already moored
Videos posted on a local online community and circulated by Russian online news outlet Astra showed the movement of ships just off the coast with the sound of gunfire coming from the direction of the sea.
The emergency services of Novorossiysk have confirmed reports of blasts and security services have been informed, Russia's RIA news agency reported. The port is one of the biggest in the Black Sea.
Clashes in the Black Sea and adjacent ports have escalated since Russia refused last month to extend a deal allowing for the safe exports of grain from Ukrainian ports; Russian drones and missiles have struck several Ukrainian port facilities and grain silos on or near the Black Sea.
Russia has also reported an attack by Ukrainian sea drones on its warships which were escorting a civilian vessel.
Russian air defences downed 10 Ukrainian drones over Crimea on Friday morning and suppressed three more with electronic countermeasures, TASS cited the Russian defence ministry as saying.
Earlier Russian shelling damaged a landmark church in the Ukrainian city of Kherson.
Ukraine's emergency service said four of its workers were wounded in a second round of shelling as they fought a fire at St Catherine's Cathedral, once the burial site of 18th-century Russian military commander Prince Grigory Potemkin.
Moscow-backed authorities had Potemkin's remains removed during the city's eight-month occupation. Russian forces withdrew from Kherson in November - instantly making the city a target of daily Russian attacks.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched a wave of 15 Shahed exploding drones against the Kyiv region but all were shot down. The governor of the capital region, Ruslan Kravchenko, said there were no injuries or damage.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Russia so far has launched at least 1961 Shahed drones, adding that "a significant number of them have been shot down."
"Unfortunately, not all of them," he said in a nightly video address to the nation, noting that Ukraine has been talking to its Western allies to provide more air defence weapons.
Ukraine's military also continued to launch attack drones deep into Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry said seven Ukrainian drones were downed in the Kaluga region, about 150 kilometres south of Moscow, the latest incident following attacks that twice hit buildings in the Russian capital that house some government ministries.
Kaluga Governor Vladislav Shapsha reported another drone was shot down later on Thursday.
Australian Associated Press
