Russian naval base ‘hit by massive drone attack’

Explosions rocked the heavily fortified headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet in Crimea yesterday amid reports that a Russian flagship had been damaged in a drone attack.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the governor of Sevastopol, blamed a “massive” Ukrainian drone attack for fires that broke out in the city’s sprawling naval base. Russia responded by suspending its participation in a UN-brokered agreement allowing Ukrainian exports of grain through its ports on the Black Sea.

There were unverified reports that the Admiral Makarov, Russia’s naval flagship, had been damaged in the attack. Video appeared to show a Ukrainian surface drone closing in on a ship resembling the Makarov. Other video clips showed fire and smoke rising from several locations around the base. The extent of the destruction could not be verified.

Russian officials claimed that a minesweeper was slightly damaged. Ukrainian officials attempted to shift the blame for the attack onto Russia. Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to President Zelensky, accused Russia of inventing “fictitious terrorist attacks” on its own facilities and of “blackmailing” Ukraine by withdrawing from the grain deal. Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, said Russia was using a “false pretext” to block the grain corridor.

Serious damage to the 410ft Makarov would be another humiliating blow for Russia after the pride of its fleet, the 600ft Moskva, was sunk in a missile attack this year. The Kremlin claimed the ship had sunk in stormy weather after being damaged by exploding munitions, but Russia subsequently withdrew its vessels to safer waters. Now they are back in the theatre of war, and a tempting target for Ukraine.

Razvozhayev claimed that all the incoming drones had been shot down. In Moscow, the Russian defence ministry accused British navy personnel of directing the attacks on the fleet. It also claimed Britain had blown up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month.

Britain immediately denied the claim. “To detract from their disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian ministry of defence is resorting to peddling false claims of an epic scale,” the British defence ministry said. “This invented story says more about arguments going on inside the Russian government than it does about the West.”

Russia’s withdrawal from the grain deal, which had also allowed exports of fertiliser to be maintained, could have a significant impact on already rising food prices around the world.

The agreement was brokered by the UN and Turkey, allowing Ukraine to resume its Black Sea grain exports after Russia’s invasion had blocked them. It was personally negotiated by António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, and celebrated as a major diplomatic victory that helped ease a global food crisis.

Russia has complained that its own exports are hindered, suggesting that it might not renew the agreement. Despite the deal, Kyiv has accused Russia of deliberately holding up ships carrying grain.

For Moscow the attack was a worrying reminder of Ukraine’s ability to strike with apparent ease inside Russian-held territory. Ukraine is preparing an effort to recapture the city of Kherson, northwest of Crimea, a focal point in the war.

The city is in the grip of fear, paranoia and uncertainty as Russia’s occupying forces struggle to police a restive population while preparing to fight.

Rare messages sent by civilians inside the city to relatives in the rest of Ukraine describe eerily deserted streets and a strictly enforced curfew. “You can be detained for up to 30 days for violating it,” one local said.

Fear of sabotage among the occupiers has grown. Explosions have been heard in the night that some have attributed to Ukrainian partisans, including a reported rocket-propelled grenade attack on a Russian police station.

“For the most part, people are not happy and they are waiting for the armed forces of Ukraine, but sit quietly because they [the Russians] are without brains — and without restraints,” one man in Kherson told his son. He added: “There are a lot of newly mobilised soldiers walking around the city with assault rifles as well as soldiers in civilian clothes.”

He added that he had seen Russian soldiers buying air mattresses at a supermarket. Ukrainian social media users have joked that they may need them to try to escape across the Dnieper river.

The Moscow-installed mayor last week said 70,000 people had left the city after the occupiers called for an evacuation before an expected assault by Ukraine. Attempts to clear the city of remaining civilians have been complicated by the determination of many to stay.

Ukrainian forces are engaged in a slow, grinding advance towards Kherson, once famous for its watermelons. Efforts to encircle the Black Sea city, the only urban centre held by the Kremlin’s forces west of the Dnieper, have been met with bloody resistance from Russia.

Hopes among Ukrainian and western intelligence communities in the past few weeks that the Russians would withdraw without a fight seem to have been overly optimistic. Russian forces have begun boosting their defences, including sending waves of newly mobilised soldiers to the Kherson front.

Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, said last week that he expected Kherson to be retaken by the end of November.

 “The most trained and most capable Russian units are currently in Kherson,” he told The Drive, an American online publication. “A large share of them are from airborne troops of the Russian Federation, Russian special operation forces and the naval infantry, so the most capable units that Russia has. Those units form the backbone of the grouping and it’s being strengthened by the mobilised personnel also.”

There were, he said, about 40,000 Russian combat troops in the grouping around Kherson. They were preparing for the Ukrainian offensive in whichever way they could.

Despite facing arrest, kidnapping and violence, some residents are standing up to the occupiers — if only by not accepting payments in roubles.