

The encounter reportedly took place 211 miles south-west of Sevastopol, occupied Crimea’s largest city. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky, dismissed the claim as “fictitious”. Several hours later, it said - in an apparent shift - that Ukraine had targeted civilian vessels being escorted by the navy along the Bosphorus Strait. Russia’s defence ministry said Kyiv had launched three maritime drones against two ships in its Black Sea fleet, the Sergey Kotov and Vasily Kykov. Moscow said it thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian warships and civilian vessels in the Black Sea as conflict intensifies in the region.
