Russia scales down celebrations honoring its navy as Ukraine launches more drone attacks
Russia reduced the festivities on Sunday in honor of its navy, citing security problems while the Ukrainian drone attacks that pursue a challenge for the Kremlin.
The Russian authorities have canceled the parades of warships in Saint Petersburg, in the Kaliningrad region on the Baltic and in the extremely East Vladivostok port which are generally held to mark the annual celebrations of the Navy Day.
Asked about the reason for the cancellation of the parade in Saint Petersburg, even if President Vladimir Putin arrived in his hometown to visit the siege of the Navy, the spokesman for Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists that “he is linked to the global situation, security reasons, which are above all.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said the air defenses had shot down 99 Ukrainian drones during several regions overnight. Later in the day, officials reported that more drones have shot down near St. Petersburg. A woman was injured by fragments of drones in the Lomonosov region, according to local authorities.
Pulkovo’s airport in Saint Petersburg has suspended dozens of flights early on Sunday due to the threat of the drone.
During a trip to Saint Petersburg, Putin visited the historic admiralty building to receive reports on four-day naval maneuvers that ended on Sunday. The July Storm exercise involved 150 Baltic warships in the Pacific.
Putin has promised to build more warships and intensify the formation of the navy, adding that “the striking power of the navy and the capacity of combat will reach a qualitatively new level”.
The reduction in the magnitude of the Navy Day celebrations reflects Moscow’s concerns about Ukrainian drone attacks across the country.
In a series of strikes earlier in the war now during its fourth year, Ukraine has flowed several Russian warships in the Black Sea, paralyzing the naval capacity of Moscow and forcing it to redeploy its fleet of Crimea occupied by Russia in Novorossiysk.
And in a daring attack on June 1, named “Spiderweb”, Ukraine used drones to strike several Russian air bases welcoming long -range bombers through Russia, from the Arctic Kola peninsula in Siberia. The drones were launched from trucks secretly placed near the bases, taking the Russian army by surprise in a humiliating blow to the Kremlin.
The RAID has destroyed or damaged many bombers who had been used by Moscow to launch air attacks against Ukraine, offering a major morale to kyiv at a time when kyiv’s under -mund and underrined forces face Russian attacks along the 1000 km front line (600 miles).
Russia continued to beat Ukraine with drone and missile strikes on Sunday.
In Sumy in northeast of Ukraine, an attack of drone damaged civil infrastructure objects, an administrative building and non-residential premises, leaving three people injured. Elsewhere in the region, two men died after being exploded by a land mine and another woman was injured in a drone attack on another community in the region, the regional military administration said.
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