The Kremlin-installed authorities in Ukraine's Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula were targeted by a drone attack on Tuesday (Nov. 22), adding that Moscow's forces there were "on alert."
The strike occurred just days after Kyiv claimed another territorial win and just days after Moscow stated its intention to reinforce its position on the Crimean peninsula.
After national pro-democracy rallies led to the fall of Ukraine's Kremlin-friendly president in 2014, Moscow captured Crimea.
Reports say no civilian infrastructure had been harmed and urged locals to "remain calm." The peninsula, which is home to many significant Russian military outposts, served as a launch pad for Russia's February invasion of Ukraine.
However, in recent months, Ukrainian forces have launched a counter-offensive in the south towards Crimea, reclaiming Kherson, the seat of the district bordering the annexed peninsula, earlier this month.
Since February, many explosions have occurred at or near Russian military installations in Crimea, including a coordinated drone attack on a key Russian naval base in Sevastopol in October. Sergei Aksyonov, the territory's Moscow-aligned governor, stated last week that authorities were fortifying their positions on the peninsula.
Ukraine claimed to have retaken nearly the entire region of an isolated peninsula. "We are restoring full control over the region. We have three settlements left on the Kinburn Split to officially no longer be a region at war," Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaly Kim on social media said.
The southern split extending into the Black Sea is separated into two parts: to the west, as part of the Mykolaiv area, and to the east, as part of the Kherson region. The Dnipro River, which flows through the Kherson region, separates it from territory controlled by Ukrainian forces.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an online press conference that the European Union's help was critical, warning against "fatigue" with the conflict. "If we Ukrainians are not tired, the rest of Europe has neither moral nor political right to be tired," he said.
Kuleba urged the EU to impose new sanctions on Russia, emphasizing the importance of measures that impede or halt Russia's missile production. The US government announced Tuesday that it would provide another $4.5 billion in financial support for "supporting core government services."
With much of Ukraine's energy grid under attack from Russian strikes, the World Bank has warned that the country faces severe energy supply disruption due to frigid weather.
Meanwhile, Russia's Gazprom accused Ukraine of diverting natural gas supplies traveling via Moldova and threatened to cut deliveries through a crucial pipeline to Europe as a result.
