Drone Strikes Russia’s Black Sea Fleet Headquarters in Crimea

The headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Russian-occupied Crimea was stuck by a drone Saturday, Russian officials reported, marking the second time the HQ had been struck since the beginning of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine.

The drone flew through the roof of the headquarters after Russian forces tried to shoot it down, the Russian-appointed governor of the port city Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, wrote on Telegram.

There were no casualties, he reported.

Razvozhayev issued a clarification around 30 minutes later, saying Russian forces had shot down the drone and that it “fell on the roof and caught fire.”

He urged Russians to stay inside and claimed Ukrainians were responsible.

Videos posted on social media claim to show smoke billowing out of the roof of the building.

Russian official Oleg Kryuchkov also posted after the drone strike took place, saying, “small drone attacks continue. The goal is not military, but psychological.”

In July, a drone carrying an explosive device detonated at the headquarters, injuring six people.

The U.S. and Ukraine have an agreement that Ukraine will not use weapons provided by the U.S. to target Russian territory, Ukrainian defense minister Oleksiy Reznikov told Voice of America on Wednesday.

No Ukrainian officials have officially claimed responsibility for strikes in Crimea, but Reznikov told the outlet that, “if we are talking about de-occupying the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine where our enemies are located, then accordingly, we have no such restrictions.”

A senior Biden administration official told Politico on the basis of anonymity that the U.S. supports Ukrainian strikes on Crimea if necessary, because Crimea is part of Ukraine.

“We don’t select targets, of course, and everything we’ve provided is for self-defense purposes. Any target they choose to pursue on sovereign Ukrainian soil is by definition self defense,” the official told the outlet.