Moscow claims to have destroyed sea drones targeting key oil shipping port Novorossiysk.

The Ministry of Defence in Moscow said on Wednesday that Russian forces had destroyed the naval drones as they advanced on the port in an overnight attack. Ukraine has reported success in targeting Russian ships and infrastructure in the Black Sea over recent months.

“Two unmanned boats travelling in the direction of Novorossiysk were destroyed in the waters of the Black Sea,” the ministry said in a post on Telegram.

The attack caused no damage or shipping disruptions, the local city administration reported, according to Russian state news agencies.

Novorossiysk Mayor Andrei Kravchenko restricted access to the beaches early on Wednesday before giving the all clear and reporting light damage to two buildings.

Novorossiysk saw a similar drone attack in May. It is one of the largest port cities on the Black Sea and the annexed Crimean Peninsula, many of which have been targeted by Ukraine’s military during the war.

Russia often downplays the damage to its naval assets and vital infrastructure for exports of raw materials, which provide the bulk of its economy.

Novorossiysk is a major export route for oil and oil products, as well as grain, coal, fertilisers and timber.

After a spate of Ukrainian strikes on Russian ships, Moscow’s Black Sea fleet was pulled out of its historic base in Crimea’s Sevastopol to Novorossiysk, which is much further from Ukraine.

Air campaign

In addition to fending off the maritime attack, the Defence Ministry also reported that its air defences intercepted 10 air drones launched at Russian territory, including one over the Moscow region.

Kyiv has said its assaults on Russia’s military, transport and energy infrastructure are retaliation for Moscow’s continuous attacks on Ukrainian territory since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

A Russian drone and missile barrage targeting the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro killed at least three people and wounded more than a dozen others, the regional governor said on Wednesday.

The Russia-Ukraine war, now in its 29th month, has ground into a bloody battle of attrition, while they continue to target one another’s territory with missiles and drones. Both sides have suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties.

Last week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country Ukraine is not engaged in negotiations with Russia, said he was drawing up a “comprehensive plan” to end the war diplomatically.

Hungary’s President Victor Orban, on a surprise visit to Ukraine on Tuesday after his country assumed the presidency of the European Union, urged a speedy ceasefire to allow negotiations.