Ukraine launches missile attack on Sevastopol in Crimea -Russian installed governor

(Reuters) – Ukraine carried out a missile attack on the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea early on Wednesday, with Russia’s air defence systems engaged in repelling the assault, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol said on Wednesday.

Mikhail Razvozhayev said on the Telegram messaging app that the missile attack had caused a fire at a “non-civilian facility”, but he did not provide further detail.

Several of Russia’s Telegram news monitoring channels reported that the Sevastopol Shipyard – the site of the construction and repair of ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet – was on fire.

Reuters could not independently verify the report. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine, but has been saying in recent months that destroying Russia’s military infrastructure helps Kyiv’s counteroffensive.

Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in a broadly condemned move in 2014.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Tom Hogue and Michael Perry)