KYIV
\nUkraine\u2019s GUR military intelligence agency said on Friday a Ukrainian drone attack had hit a Russian military base deep inside annexed Crimea, while residents reported casualties, explosions and a road closure.
\nEarly on Friday, Russia reported one of the biggest coordinated Ukrainian air raids yet over Russian-controlled territory but said air defense systems had downed all 42 drones attacking Crimea before they could hit their targets.
\nUkrainian intelligence officials said the attack struck Russia\u2019s 126th Coastal Defense Brigade based in Perevalnoye, a town more than 200 km (120 miles) from Ukraine-controlled territory.
\n\u201cWe confirm that there was a hit,\u201d said GUR spokesman Andriy Yusov, according to Ukrainian media outlet Liga.Net.
\nMoscow annexed Ukraine\u2019s Crimea in 2014, declaring it Russian territory. The United States says it supports Ukrainian attacks on Russian military targets on the Black Sea peninsula of because it should be demilitarised.
\n\u201cPeople \u2014 not only on the Ukrainian mainland but also in Crimea \u2014 need to remember and believe that our victory and their liberation are not far away,\u201d Ukraine\u2019s military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said of Friday\u2019s strike.
\nPerevalnoye residents, posting on the Telegram messaging app, reported hearing blasts from the military base and cited casualties.
\nReuters could not independently verify the reports.
\n\u201cTwo people died on a firing range, one was taken to a hospital in a severe condition. This is information from above, from the firing range,\u201d said a user nicknamed Abdul Has, whose profile picture shows a man in camouflaged uniform.
\nAnother user, Vlad the Local, said roughly one person was dead.
\n\u201cWhy was a gate to the military town closed?\u201d user Julia Julia asked.
\nAnother resident with the call sign Lis asked others not to disclose information.
\n\u201cResidents of Perevalnoye, I strongly recommend \u2014 don\u2019t write here what happened and how,\u201d Lis wrote. \u201cWe help them to direct fire in the future with that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KYIV Ukraine\u2019s GUR military intelligence agency said on Friday a Ukrainian drone attack had hit a Russian military base deep inside annexed Crimea, while residents reported casualties, explosions and a road closure. Early on Friday, Russia reported one of the biggest coordinated Ukrainian air raids yet over Russian-controlled territory but said air defense systems had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-351950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n