Ukrainian attack on ferry kills one in Russian port

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.

Ukraine's energy ministry said one Russian attack drone struck a critical infrastructure facility in Sumy Region, cutting power to 50,000 consumers.

The previous night, the head of Kharkiv's military administration in north-eastern Ukraine, Oleh Syniehubov, said an educational institute had been damaged in a Russian attack on the settlement of Derhachi to the north of Kharkiv city.

Russia's defence ministry has now claimed that about 50 foreign "instructors and mercenaries" were killed in the strike, without offering any evidence other than a video of the purported attack. No mention was made of casualties on Monday.

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

The previous night, the ministry said it had downed over 85 Ukrainian drones.

-BBC