Ukraine says drones destroyed Russia’s helicopters, air defences in Crimea | Russia-Ukraine war News

Ukraine’s Security Service said it deployed special drones to attack the Russian Kirovske military airfield in Crimea.

Ukraine said it carried out an overnight drone strike on the Kirovske airfield in Crimea and claimed that multiple Russian helicopters and an air defence system were destroyed in the strike.

According to a Ukraine Security Service (SBU) statement, the drones targeted areas where Russian aviation units, air defence assets, ammunition depots and unmanned aerial vehicles were located. The agency claimed that Mi-8, Mi-26, and Mi-28 helicopters, as well as a Pantsir-S1 missile and gun system were destroyed.

“Secondary detonations continued throughout the night at the airfield,” the SBU said, calling the strike part of broader efforts to disrupt Russian aerial operations. “The enemy must understand that expensive military equipment and ammunition are not safe anywhere – not on the line of contact, not in Crimea, and not deep in the rear.”

The Russian defence ministry said more than 40 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight and Saturday morning over Crimea.

At the same time, Ukrainian officials said two people were killed and 14 others were wounded during a Russian drone strike on the port city of Odesa.

Odesa Governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram that those who were killed were due to a drone strike on a “residential building”. Among the 14 injured, “three of them children”, Kiper added.

The governor of the southern Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said that one person was killed and three others were wounded in Russian strikes during the past day.

“Russian troops targeted critical and social infrastructure and residential areas in the region,” Prokudin added.

Territorial gains

Amid the latest attacks, Russia’s defence ministry said it had taken control of the settlement of Chervona Zirka in the eastern Donetsk region, which Moscow has claimed is part of Russia since an illegal election in late 2022.

After direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Turkiye this month to end the war, which began in 2022, both sides were unable to come to a mutual understanding.

Moscow has said any territory taken during the war must be retained. Kyiv has staunchly rejected any peace proposal that calls for it to give up land to Russia.

On Friday, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said that the two countries’ demands were “absolutely contradictory”.

“That’s why negotiations are being organised and conducted, in order to find a path to bringing them closer together,” Putin said at a press conference in Minsk, Belarus. He added that the two sides would “continue further contact” after prisoner exchanges agreed at the Istanbul talks had been completed.

Russia and Ukraine have conducted several prisoner-of-war swaps since agreeing to free more than 1,000 captured soldiers.