This is the dramatic moment two Ukrainian kamikaze drones were shot down, targeted at resort Sochi where Vladimir Putin’s official Black Sea resort is based.
Russian air defences had to be deployed leading to major explosions offshore in Krasnodar region.
The airport was closed and locals reported a series of half a dozen explosions with lights going out in some homes.
Putin, 71, often rules Russia from Sochi, and his lover Alina Kabaeva, 40, a gold-medal winning rhythmic gymnast, is frequently based in the city and was here this week.
The city authorities said there were no casualties from today’s drone onslaught.
This is the dramatic moment two Ukrainian kamikaze drones were shot down targeted at tyhe Russian town of Sochi on the Black Sea
President Vladimir Putin often rules Russia from Sochi, his official Black Sea resort
Putin’s lover Alina Kabaeva, 40, a gold-medal winning rhythmic gymnast, is frequently based in the city and was here this week.
Footage captured one of the failed drones shooting across the sky before it was struck down
The Russian defence ministry said: ‘At about 7:10 am Moscow time, the Russian military foiled another attempt of the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack on Russian facilities with the use of drones.
‘Two unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed by the Russian Air Defence Troops on duty over the waters of the Black Sea near the coast of the Krasnodar Region.’
The attack comes in a week which has seen two Russian warships damaged in Krasnodar in an attack by Ukrainian-made undersea drones.
Kyiv also claims to have hit two Russian Su-25 war planes.
Sochi mayor Alexey Kopaigorodsky said on his Telegram channel. ‘The airport and all systems of the resort city are 1697346874 working normally.
‘The situation is under control of the operational headquarters, thanks to all our [defence forces].
‘There is no threat to the life and health of residents and tourists, everything is calm in the resort.’
Putin’s official residence Bocharov Ruchey is in the city.
Explosions were reported in the district close to the house.
He also has a £1 billion clifftop palace at Gelendzhik, in the same Krasnodar region.
Putin this week flew abroad for the first time since an International Criminal Court arrest warrant was issued for him over the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine.
He flew to Kyrgyzstan which is not a signatory to the ICC.
He is due to visit China next week.
Moscow’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov hopes to meet representatives of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Qatar next week for talks to free Israeli hostages, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported Saturday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) was welcomed by Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov yesterday, in his first flight abroad since an international arrest warrant was issued
Vladimir Putin at his Bocharov Ruchei residence in Sochi, south of Russia
Moscow has so far carefully denounced violence from both sides in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, while renewing an offer to be a potential mediator.
Bogdanov told RIA Novosti he ‘did not exclude’ meeting Hamas representatives on the trip, adding: ‘If they are willing, we always are in favour of contact. Especially in this situation (the meeting) would be useful for solving practical issues, including the freeing of hostages.’
On October 7, hundreds of Hamas gunmen broke through the militarised border around the Gaza Strip into Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking around 150 Israeli, foreign and dual-national hostages.
Moscow manages to retain close relations with both the Israeli and Palestinian authorities.
The announcement of Bogdanov’s efforts came a day after President Vladimir Putin said Russia could help find a way to end the crisis.
‘Russia can (help), by virtue of the fact that we have had good relations with Israel over the last 15 years,’ Putin said on a visit to Kyrgyzstan Friday.
He also said Israel risked waging an ‘unacceptable’ siege in Gaza.
The Russian leader has said that the creation of a Palestinian state is the only viable way to solve the conflict.
Moscow – whose troops have fought in Ukraine for almost 20 months – has blamed the West for the conflict in Israel.
Ukraine reported ‘heated’ fighting around its eastern city of Avdiivka today, saying Russian forces had ‘not stopped assaulting’ the symbolic industrial hub for days in their attempt to surround it
Ukraine gunners conduct military activity in the Donetsk direction following attempted assaults by Russia in Avdiivka
Ukrainian troops stepped up their assault in Donetsk following Russia’s incursion upon the eastern city of Avdiivka
Avdiivka has been a symbol of Ukrainian resistance since 2014, after it briefly fell to Russian-backed separatists
Ukraine reported ‘heated’ fighting around its eastern city of Avdiivka today, saying Russian forces had ‘not stopped assaulting’ the symbolic industrial hub for days in their attempt to surround it.
Kyiv last week said Russia had stepped up assaults on the frontline city, which lies just 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Moscow-held Donetsk.
Avdiivka has been a symbol of Ukrainian resistance since 2014, after it briefly fell to Russian-backed separatists.
Russian forces now control territory to the east, north and south of Avdiivka.
‘For the fifth day already, the enemy has not stopped either assaulting or shelling positions around the city,’ Vitaliy Barabash, the head of the city, said on Ukrainian television.
‘It is very heated, very heated,’ he said of the fighting.
‘They are trying to surround the city,’ Barabash added, claiming that Moscow was deploying ‘more new forces’ to the area.
He described intense battles: ‘There is certainly no silence there at all. Shooting battles continue, both from the north and from the south of the city.’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Kyiv was holding its ground in Avdiivka, but Moscow claimed it had improved its positions there.
Around 1,600 civilians remain in the city, which had a pre-war population of around 31,000.
Ukraine also said Saturday that a Russian attack killed an 11-year-old boy in the eastern village of Bagatyr, also in the Donetsk region, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Avdiivka.
‘The boy turned 11 just two days ago,’ Ukrainian police said in a statement.
It said his 31-year-old mother and younger brother were wounded and taken to hospital following the attack, which damaged some 20 homes, a church and a school.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk