Sea drone alert ends in Russia's key Black Sea port

The mayor of the Russian Black Sea port city of Novorossiisk issued a sea drone alert on Thursday morning which lasted for more than two hours, while a group of unmanned Ukrainian boats was destroyed near Crimea.

Mayor Andrei Kravchenko urged residents to stay away from the city's shoreline in his initial message on the Telegram app. Ukrainian sea drones have in the past attacked Russian ships near the port, disrupting traffic.

Novorossiisk is Russia's largest Black Sea port and a key outlet for crude oil and oil product exports in the south. It also loads oil from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan and handles grain, coal, fertilizers, timber as well as food and chemical cargoes.

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Separately, the TASS news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying 10 Ukrainian sea drones had been destroyed as they approached Crimea, and 33 air drones had been destroyed over the peninsula overnight.

This article was produced by Reuters news agency. It has not been edited by Global South World.

By Reuters