Ukrainian attack damages shipyard in Crimea

Ukraine launched an assault on the Crimean port city of Sevastopol in the early morning hours of Wednesday. The attack wounded 24 people, damaged two ships, and started a fire at the facility, Russian authorities said. Ukraine confirmed its attack on Sevastopol. Ukraine’s air strike occurred while Moscow launched drones at Ukraine’s Odesa region, wounding seven people. Separate Russian attacks in the Donetsk region killed three people and wounded three others, the Ukrainian government said.

Why did Ukraine target the shipyard? Sevastopol is strategically important to Russia because vessels in its Black Sea fleet are repaired there. The Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, has been a frequent target since Russia invaded Ukraine more than a year ago. Wednesday’s attack appeared to be one of Ukraine’s biggest attacks there in recent weeks. Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would do everything within his power to bring back Crimea.

Dig deeper: Read William Fleeson’s article in WORLD Magazine about flowers and resilience blooming in Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.