Ukraine drones attack Crimea, Moscow says, as Zelenskyy urges strikes inside Russia

(LONDON) -- Ukrainian drones attacked Crimea overnight into Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said, during another night of UAV exchanges between the two warring nations.

"Air defense systems on duty destroyed and intercepted 25 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the Black Sea and the territory of the Republic of Crimea," the ministry wrote on Telegram, using Moscow's name for the peninsula annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The Kremlin-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, wrote on Telegram that air defenses were activated to repulse the combined air attack on the city, which is home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet and the nucleus of Moscow's power projection over the occupied peninsula.

Razvozhaev said several drones were shot down over the Black Sea in the areas of Orlovka and Kacha, as well as over Victory Park in the outskirts of the city. Two missiles were also downed over the Black Sea, the governor said.

Rescue services reported falling fragments near the Kachinsky highway, Razvozhaev added.

In total, Russia's Defense Ministry said it downed at least 54 drones over Russian-controlled regions on Tuesday night.

Ukraine's air force reported 89 Russian drones launched into the country on Tuesday night, of which 36 were shot down and another 48 lost during flight. Five UAVs flew into Belarus, the air force said on Telegram.

It added that drone debris damaged buildings in the Kyiv region, though reported no casualties.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday morning praised the country's anti-drone defense teams, which he said are active every night.

Tuesday's night drone attack was significantly smaller than the record-breaking 188-drone barrage launched into Ukraine on Monday night.

Zelenskyy said that attack caused "damage to our critical infrastructure" and urged foreign partners to do more to curtail Moscow's use of foreign components in its drones and missiles.

On Tuesday evening, Zelenskyy said in a statement posted to X that continued attacks into Ukraine show the necessity for Kyiv to strike military targets inside Russia -- a sensitive political issue that has caused tensions with Ukraine's Western partners and prompted nuclear threats from Moscow.

Referring to a deadly rocket artillery attack in the eastern city of Sumy, the president said the "only effective way to protect ourselves from this is to eliminate Russian weapons and Russian launchers directly on Russian territory."

"That is why the ability to strike Russian territory is so important to us," Zelenskyy added.

"This is the only factor that can limit Russian terror and Russia's capacity to wage war in general," he said. "I am grateful to all the partners who understand this and convey it to other partners."

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