The Russian military said it shot down two drones and a cruise missile over Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Moscow’s forces in 2014.

“Today at 11:30 a.m. (0930 GMT), another attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack on objects of the Russian Federation was thwarted,’’ the Russian Defence Ministry said.

The minister added that a cruise missile was destroyed over the Black Sea off the Crimean coast.

Earlier, the ministry said two drones had been shot down.

They were reconnaissance Tekever drones made in Portugal, according to the Russian military blog Rybar.

Both were shot down north of Crimea, he said, although the information could not be independently verified.

Ukraine had recently stepped up its attacks on Crimea and deployed a commando unit to the peninsula last week.

All these are attempts to disrupt Moscow’s supply routes to its occupying forces in southern Ukraine and hit ammunition and fuel depots.

Moscow has been using Crimea as a supply base for its military since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

(dpa/NAN)