Russian forces repelled drone attack on Crimea, Russian-installed official says

Local officials said ferries and boats had temporarily stopped crossing the Bay of Sevastopol.

 Russian Navy vessels are anchored in a bay of the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in Crimea May 8, 2014 (photo credit: REUTERS/STRINGER/FILE PHOTO)
Russian Navy vessels are anchored in a bay of the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in Crimea May 8, 2014
(photo credit: REUTERS/STRINGER/FILE PHOTO)

Russian naval forces repelled a drone attack in the Bay of Sevastopol, where the Black Sea Fleet is headquartered, on the annexed Crimean peninsular, the Russian-installed leader of the area said on Saturday.

"Ships of the Black Sea Fleet repelled a drone attack in the waters of the Sevastopol Bay," the governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said on Telegram.

"Nothing has been hit in the city. We remain calm. The situation is under control."

Local officials said ferries and boats had temporarily stopped crossing the Bay of Sevastopol.

Russian annexed Crimea

 Permanent group of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea, 2016 (credit: Russian Ministry of Defence/Wikimedia Commons)
Permanent group of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea, 2016 (credit: Russian Ministry of Defence/Wikimedia Commons)

Sevastopol is the largest city in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Crimea was annexed into the Russian empire in the 18th century and was later a part of Russia within the Soviet Union until 1954 when it was handed to the Soviet Republic of Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev.