Russia attacked Ukraine with 46 drones launched in several waves overnight, Ukraine’s military said Wednesday.
The Ukrainian air force said its defenses destroyed 32 of the drones, while most of the remainder were able to strike front-line areas, mainly in the Kherson region.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko also reported Russian shelling Tuesday evening in Kherson that hit a train station as people awaited the departure of a train to evacuate them.
Klymenko said the shelling killed a police officer and injured four people.
The latest attacks followed a Ukrainian strike Tuesday that hit a Russian naval landing ship in Crimea.
The Ukrainian air force said it used cruise missiles and that the attack destroyed the Novocherkassk.
Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Forces Command, told VOA the Ukrainian military had information about the ship’s location and cargo, as well as Russian air defenses protecting the region.
Ihnat called the attack “an extremely difficult operation because it is not easy to sink such a ship.”
Ukraine’s military is getting better at delivering high-precision strikes, Ihnat said, adding that Russia “is losing, little by little, the Black Sea fleet and its influence in the Black Sea.”
Ihnat said he could not confirm whether the Novocherkassk was carrying Iranian-made drones but said that could not be ruled out. Additionally, he could not confirm whether the ship had ammunition Russia had received from its allies for use in Ukraine.
The Russian defense ministry said the Ukrainian attack damaged the Novocherkassk at a base in Feodosia.
Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed governor of Crimea, said on Telegram the attack killed one person and injured two others.
Ukrainian Vice Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa, commander of the Ukrainian Navy, told VOA the Tuesday attack will have an effect on the presence of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.
“Now the ships of the Black Sea Fleet, which is located in Feodosia, understand that they are also the objects of attack by the armed forces of Ukraine, including at this base point,” he said.
Myroslava Gongadze and Ihar Tsikhanenka contributed to this report. Some material came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.