Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has pledged to keep pressure on Russian-occupied Crimea after another attempt to attack Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet installation in the city of Sevastopol overnight.
Zelenskiy, speaking on October 24 via video link to a forum in Prague, did not address the attack in the early hours of the day, which Russian-installed officials said was repelled, but he stressed that the “illusion” of Russia’s domination of Crimea and the Black Sea had been shattered.
“We have not yet gained full fire control over Crimea and surrounding waters, but we will…. Now the illusions are melting,” Zelenskiy told a meeting of the Crimea Platform. “This is a question of time.”
A powerful explosion was reported in Sevastopol after 10 p.m. local time. The blast shook windows, but no alarm was declared, according to an RFE/RL correspondent.
Speaking later on October 24 in a video released on X, formerly Twitter, Zelenskiy assessed the final declaration of the meeting in Prague as “powerful,” saying it supports Ukraine and its territorial integrity and sovereignty and the need to liberate all its land. He also noted that the meeting drew almost 70 delegations from countries around the world.
The purpose of the Crimea Platform, a diplomatic initiative Zelenskiy launched in 2021, is to maintain the international community’s attention on Crimea, protect human rights there, and promote the de-occupation of the peninsula. Zelenskiy launched the diplomatic initiative in 2021, seven years after Moscow illegally annexed Crimea.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol on the peninsula that Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, said in a post on Telegram earlier on October 24 that Ukraine launched an “underwater sabotage” attack, engaging with Russian forces who were responding to the situation.
“Loud sounds — from an external raid — the Black Sea Fleet is battling a probable attack by underwater diversionary forces,” he wrote.
Russia’s Defense Ministry added that “anti-sabotage missiles and bombs hit the area where the unmanned [Ukrainian] boats were detected.
Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment on the reports, which could not be independently verified. It was not clear whether there were any casualties.
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, the Black Sea peninsula has increasingly seen attacks targeting Russian military supply lines and the Black Sea Fleet.
Ukraine’s Air Force Command said it shot down all six Shahed drones detected in a Russian attack in the Khmelnytskiy, Vinnytsya and Mykolayiv regions.
Kyiv has also been fighting to reclaim four southern regions in the area that Russia has occupied since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Zelenskiy later spoke virtually on October 24 to the Ukraine-Germany business forum as he continues to work to ensure support for Ukraine doesn’t wane as the war enters its 21st month.
Zelenskiy said representatives of Ukraine’s defense, energy, and infrastructure industries were present at the forum and said there were “good agreements and joint projects” under consideration. He expressed gratitude to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and all of German society for their support.
“Our level of relations and trust…is indeed the highest in all the years of our independence,” he said in the video released on X.
Source : Rferl
