Ukrainian attack on ferry kills one in Russia’s Port Kavkaz

One person has been killed and others wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on a ferry at port in southern Russia, the regional governor has said.

Krasnodar governor Veniamin Kondratyev said the ferry had caught fire at Port Kavkaz but there was no risk of it spreading.

The port lies a few kilometres from the Kerch bridge, which enables road and rail travel between Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

“Unfortunately there are injured and dead among the crew and port staff,” Mr Kondratyev said.

He added that emergency services were on the scene.

Ukraine attacked the same area at the end of May, hitting an oil terminal near Port Kavkaz.

The area around the Russian-built bridge over the Kerch Strait has been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian forces since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022.

Russian navy ships based in Crimea have been sunk or badly damaged. Earlier this month the head of Ukraine’s navy said the Russian Black Sea Fleet had been forced to move almost all of its warships from occupied Crimea to other ports.

In a separate development overnight, Ukraine’s air defences downed seven Shahed-type attack drones and a cruise missile launched by Russia.

One Russian attack drone struck a critical infrastructure facility in Sumy Region.

Russian forces shot down 25 Ukrainian drones in the west of the country and over Crimea, Moscow’s defence ministry said.