Images and videos on social media are said to show explosions and gunfire in and around the town of Yevpatorija, located on the western side of the annexed Crimean peninsula.
SVT News has been able to geolocate one of the videos and can say with certainty that it was filmed from a house on the outskirts of the city.
"First there was a very loud explosion. The windows shook. Then came several more explosions. The whole city probably heard it," a resident of Yevpatorija told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.
The newspaper Ukrainska pravda writes, citing a Ukrainian security source, that a Russian air defense system worth the equivalent of over 13 billion Swedish kronor was destroyed in an attack. The operation was reportedly carried out jointly by the security services and the Ukrainian Navy, and both drones and two cruise missiles were reportedly used.
Should be second event in a short time
It is the second air defence system that Ukraine claims to have destroyed in Crimea in a short period of time. On August 23, another system was reportedly knocked out, also on the western side of the peninsula.
"This means that the air defences on the western side of Crimea are severely weakened," says Lieutenant Colonel Johan Huovinen.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that eleven Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian air defenses early Thursday morning. The ministry has not commented on the reports of destroyed air defense systems.