Drone Hits Russian Black Sea Fleet Base In Sevastopol, Russian Parliament Member Accuses Ukraine

Illustration of TB2 drone Ukrainian besutan Turkey. (Wikimedia Commons/Minister of Defense of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - A drone strike hit the base of the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, as Russia celebrates Navy Day, Sunday.

Five members of the Russian navy staff were injured in the explosion after a suspected drone flew into the grounds of the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea fleet in Russian-occupied Sevastopol, the governor of the Crimean port city, Mikhail Razvozhayev, told Russian media.

He blamed the attack on Ukraine, saying it had decided to "ruin Navy Day for us." Reuters was quoted as saying Aug. 1, unable to independently verify the battlefield reports.

But Olga Kovitidi, a member of Russia's upper house of parliament, told Russia's RIA news agency that the attack was "unquestionably carried out not from outside, but from the Sevastopol region."

"An urgent search operation is being carried out in the city to track down the organizers of this terrorist act. They will be found at night," Kovitidi was quoted as saying.

The Sevastopol attack coincided with Russian Navy Day, which President Vladimir Putin marked by announcing that the navy would receive what he called "tough" Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles in the coming months.

The missile is said to be able to travel at nine times the speed of sound, exceeding air defenses.

President Putin, who made no mention of the conflict in Ukraine during his speech, after signing a new naval doctrine that makes the United States Russia's main rival, set out Russia's global maritime ambitions for key areas such as the Arctic and in the Black Sea.

President Putin sent tens of thousands of troops across the border on February 24, sparking a conflict that has killed thousands, uprooted millions and deeply strained relations between Russia and the West.

The biggest conflict in Europe since World War II also triggered an energy and food crisis that rocked the global economy. Both Ukraine and Russia are major suppliers of grain.