Russia claims to have intercepted a missile over occupied Crimea

Authorities in the Crimean peninsula that Russia has imposed The Kerch bridge, which connects the annexation area to Russia, was momentarily closed to traffic when a cruise missile was shot down near Kerch on Sunday.

Sergei Aksyonov, the Crimea’s chosen ruler by Moscow, said that no harm or deaths resulted from the missile’s interception by Russian air defences. He didn’t provide any information about the missile’s make or country of origin.

Government officials on Sunday also claimed shooting down a missile in the adjacent Russian city of Rostov. The missile, according to governor Vasily Golubev, was fired from Ukraine, and its debris damaged many buildings’ roofs. There have been no recorded casualties.

Such strikes on Russian districts along the Ukrainian border or the seized Crimean peninsula further from the front line, which have already occurred more than 500 days into the conflict in Ukraine, have become commonplace.

Authorities in Crimea, which Russia unlawfully invaded in 2014, as well as those appointed by Moscow have often reported explosions, drone strikes, and even cross-border incursions by Ukrainian saboteurs. Kiev has never admitted responsibility for these assaults in the open.

The Kerch Bridge, an important route for Russian forces to travel and receive supplies while stationed in Crimea, was seriously damaged by an explosion in October, rendering it useless for many weeks. Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, described the strike as one of the nation’s most significant victories in the conflict so far in a Telegram message on Saturday, what looked to be the first clear confirmation of Kyiv’s participation.

It has been 273 days since the initial attack on the Crimean bridge that we launched to obstruct Russian supplies, according to Maliar.

She also noted the Moskva cruiser’s sinking, which the Russian officials refused to put down to a Ukrainian strike among other victories.

Russian state media and authorities took notice of Maliar’s post-Sunday. Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the foreign ministry, once again referred to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration as a “terrorist regime” in an online statement denouncing the incident.

Additional developments

— On Saturday, one of the Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol’s defensive leaders stated his intention to rejoin the fighting. As Russian troops seized control of the port city early in the conflict, the massive steelworks served as the final stronghold of resistance. The more than 2,000 defenders of Azovstal deserted the steelworks in the middle of May 2022 and were captured by the Russians.

The five commanders were released in a prisoner exchange in September and sent to Turkey, where they were to stay until the conclusion of the conflict under the protection of the Turkish president. Some of the five leaders were members of the Azov national guard unit, which Russia accuses of being neo-Nazi.

Zelenskyy, however, returned them to Ukraine on Saturday. How this fit the terms of the transaction was not immediately explained by the government.

Denys Prokopenko, one of the five leaders, said to media in Ukraine after his return that he would go back to the front lines. I really believe that the army works best as a team. And starting today, we’ll keep fighting with you. We will definitely participate in the fight,” Prokopenko was reported as saying by Ukrainian media.

Nine people have died as a result of the Russian missile attack on Lyman, a city in the partially-occupied Donetsk area, which occurred on Saturday. A few kilometres (kilometres) separate Lyman from the front line, where Russian forces have lately stepped up battle in the Kreminna woodland.