Title: Russian Forces Repel Attack on Naval Base in Crimea; Ukraine Fights Back on Frontlines
Subtitle: Landmark Church in Kherson Damaged by Russian Shelling
Date: [Current Date]
In the latest updates from the war in Ukraine, Russia announced on Friday that it successfully repelled an assault on a naval base in Crimea by Ukrainian naval and aerial drones. The Defense Ministry of Russia revealed that the Ukrainian armed forces attempted to attack the naval base of Novorossïysk in the Black Sea with the help of two unmanned boats. However, Russian ships protecting the base visually detected and destroyed the unmanned boats using regular gunfire. There were no reported damages, and the flow of oil through the port in Novorossiysk continued uninterrupted.
Novorossiysk, being a major port, serves as the end point of an extensive oil pipeline stretching around 1,500 km from western Kazakhstan and Russian regions situated north of the Caspian Sea. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) confirmed that oil transportation remained unaffected by the attack.
Since the start of the invasion in February 2022, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has faced repeated attacks, with recent weeks witnessing an escalation of aggression. Despite the challenging counteroffensive, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that his troops had the upper hand. In his address, Zelenskyy noted that the occupiers were putting in great efforts to halt the Ukrainian army. However, he expressed confidence that the Ukrainian forces dominated the conflict. Equipped with Western weapons and training, Kyiv launched a counteroffensive in June to dislodge Russian forces from their positions in the south and east of the country. While progress has been modest, the Ukrainian military is facing well-prepared Russian forces with formidable defenses.
Zelenskyy mentioned ongoing fighting near Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, as well as the southern front. In 2022, Ukraine successfully recaptured territories around Kherson and Kharkiv in swift offensives. Nonetheless, Kyiv warned that the current counteroffensive may be lengthy and difficult, urging its allies to provide additional weapons.
In another development, Russian shelling damaged a prominent church in the Ukrainian city of Kherson. During the incident, four emergency service personnel were wounded during a second round of shelling while battling a fire at St Catherine’s Cathedral. The prosecutor general’s office reported four additional injuries resulting from the initial round of shelling, which also struck a trolleybus. St Catherine’s Cathedral, a historical landmark dating back to 1781, housed the remains of Prince Grigory Potemkin, an influential 18th-century Russian military figure.
Furthermore, Odesa, another city in southern Ukraine, also suffered severe damage to a beloved Orthodox cathedral due to a missile strike. These targeted attacks on cultural monuments underscore the risks posed by the ongoing conflict.
It is important to note that Prince Grigory Potemkin was the governor-general of the region known as “New Russia.” The concept of “Potemkin villages,” which are now widely disputed, originated from stories of Potemkin erecting fake settlements to impress Catherine the Great during her visit to Crimea and the southern territories. In September, during a Kremlin ceremony marking Russia’s illegal annexation of occupied or partially occupied Ukrainian provinces, President Vladimir Putin invoked the notion of “New Russia” and mentioned the cities founded by Catherine and Potemkin.
The war in Ukraine continues to evolve, with both sides locked in fierce battles for control. The international community closely monitors the situation and hopes for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.