A senior Russian official said today that one Ukrainian ballistic missile shot down over annexed Crimeaa rare event at a time when an imminent attack by Ukrainian forces is looming.

“Air defense forces shot down a ballistic missile fired by a Ukrainian Grom-2 system over the Republic of Crimea. There were no disasters and no casualties.” said on Telegram Sergey Aksionov, head of Crimea, appointed by Moscow.

One of his advisers, Oleg Krychkov, later said two Grom-2 missiles were shot down, according to updated information.

AFP could not independently confirm these statements.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, this is the second time that the use of Ukrainian Grom ballistic missiles over Crimea has been reported by the authorities. The first report was last month.

Since the summer of 2022, Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014, has been frequently hit by explosions and airstrikes by drones and sometimes unmanned surface vessels.

In late April, a drone strike caused a major fire at an oil warehouse in Sevastopol in Crimea, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based.

This new announcement comes as drone attacks, sabotage and alleged attacks have multiplied in recent weeks in Russia, sometimes far from Ukraine, without their perpetrators being clearly identified.

The Kremlin blames them on Kiev, which it denies, amid preparations for a major offensive by Ukrainian armed forces and major celebrations in Russia for May 9, the day of victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.