The headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet caught fire after being hit by a Ukrainian missile strike, according to Moscow and its allies.
One serviceman was missing following the attack, said the Russian defence ministry which earlier stated he had been killed.
Ukraine‘s military said its forces had “successfully” struck the navy HQ in the Crimean port of Sevastopol but gave no more details.
The city’s Russian-installed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said the strike caused a fire and no one was injured outside the building but he did not talk about any other casualties.
Kremlin hits out at ‘aggressive’ Poland – Ukraine war latest
Firefighters battled the blaze and more emergency forces were being brought in – a sign of the large scale of the fire.
A stream of ambulances arrived at the building and shrapnel was scattered around an area of hundreds of metres, the Tass news agency reported, adding police asked residents to leave the city centre, where the naval HQ is located.
Mr Razvozhayev initially told Sevastopol residents that another attack was possible and urged them not to leave buildings or go into the centre.
He later said there was no longer any threat of an airstrike but reiterated that people should not go to the central part of the city.
The defence ministry said five missiles were shot down by its air defence systems responding to the Sevastopol attack.
It was not immediately clear if the HQ was hit in a direct strike or by debris from an intercepted missile.
Read more:
Analysis: Pressure is mounting for Zelenskyy
Ukraine soldiers ‘choke Russian occupiers’
Why is Poland stopping sending weapons to Ukraine?
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Unprecedented’ cyberattack in Crimea
Meanwhile, Crimea has been struck by an “unprecedented” cyberattack in the wake of the missile strike, according to an official.
“An unprecedented cyberattack on Crimean internet providers,” noted Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the Russian governor of the region, on Telegram.
“We are detecting interruptions in the internet on the peninsula,” he added. “All services are working to eliminate the threat.”
The outage has not been verified and it was not clear what could have caused it.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘We in Ukraine will not give up’
The missile attack comes a day after five people were killed when Russian missiles and artillery pounded cities across Ukraine.
Also on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met US President Joe Biden and congressional leaders in Washington.
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
Mr Biden has been pressing Congress to approve an extra aid package for Ukraine worth $24bn (£19.5bn) amid Russia’s ongoing invasion.
The Crimean Peninsula was annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014 in an act that most of the world saw as illegal.
This story originally appeared on Skynews
