Russian air defense systems intercepted and destroyed a total of 17 remote-controlled unmanned aerial vehicles of Ukraine in the early hours of today over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Nine of the drones were destroyed by anti-aircraft gun arrays and another eight were intercepted using electronic warfare means, the ministry said via Telegram.

Earlier, the Moscow-appointed governor of Sevastopol, a Black Sea port on the Crimean peninsula, Mikhail Razvazaev, also via Telegram, said that debris fell on the roof of a house in the village of Andriivkaa short distance from Sevastopol, causing a fire which was quickly extinguished.

No casualty information was provided by either the ministry or the governor.

According to Russian news site Shot, at around 04:10 (local time; 03:10 Greek time), strong explosions were heard near the towns of Navafeodorovka and Saki. In the latter is a base of the Aerospace Forces (of the Russian Air Force).

The port of Sevastopol, base of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea fleet, has repeatedly been the target of Ukrainian attacks.

Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014.

There has been no comment on this information from the Kyiv side so far.