Russia on Saturday destroyed three Ukrainian naval drones that targeted the Crimea bridge, AFP quoted Russia’s Ministry of Defence as saying on Telegram.
“On September 2, at about 02.20 am Moscow time (2320 GMT Friday), the third Ukrainian semi-submersible unmanned boat, sent by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge, was destroyed in the Black Sea,” Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Telegram.
Adding more, it said, a drone was destroyed Friday and two others early Saturday.
As per details, Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the strategic bridge that connects the peninsula to the Russian mainland as it plans to take Crimea back.
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Meanwhile, a defrocked Russian priest who spoke out against Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine was jailed for three years on Thursday, following a court found him guilty of spreading ‘fake news’ about the army.
Ioann Kurmoyarov — ran a YouTube channel called the ‘Orthodox Virtual Parish’ — was charged after allegedly posting ‘several videos with false information about the use of the Russian army’.
“Kurmoyarov fully admitted his guilt and repented,” the court said in a statement Thursday.
According to rights group Amnesty International, Kurmoyarov had already been stripped of his priesthood in April 2022.
Crimea under attack:
Annexed by Russia in 2014, Crimea has been targeted by Kyiv throughout Moscow’s Ukraine offensive, however, has recently come under more intense and increased attacks.
Earlier in August, the peninsula’s Russian-installed governor had said that Russian air defense forces had shot down three Ukrainian missiles over the bridge, which is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s pet projects.
The 18-kilometer concrete bridge consists of two parallel structures, one reserved for road traffic and the other for rail traffic.
When attacked in July, the bridge suffered major damage to the road section, also used to transport military equipment.
With agency inputs.
