Ukraine launched a strong attack on an important Russian naval base shortly before Vladimir Putin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
At least 24 people got hurt and two warships were possibly harmed when a lot of missiles were launched at Sevastopol port on Wednesday morning.
Seven big explosions happened and a shipyard caught fire after the port in Crimea, which has been taken over by force, was attacked.
Scary video captured by people living nearby showed many explosions and big bursts of light in the city. It happened in the city where Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is located.
The Russian defense ministry said that ten cruise missiles hit the port called Ordzhonikidze, and they also said that seven of those missiles were shot down.
A very important ship building and repair yard was caught on fire, while a power plant and other naval facilities near the Black Sea were also damaged.
This is the largest attack on Sevastopol since Putin started invading Ukraine in February of last year.
Ukraine attacked the shipyard in Sevastopol, which is under Russian control, using 10 cruise missiles.
The strikes happened at the same time as the Russian president was going to meet with Kim Jong Un. They want to get more ammunition because they have run out of it during the past year and a half of fighting.
Putin and Mr Kim met today at Vostochny cosmodrome, which is in Russia’s far east and is seven hours ahead of Sevastopol’s time.
According to Russian state media, both leaders were supposed to visit the spaceport and then have a discussion.
It is believed that Mr Kim sees this as an opportunity to avoid severe UN restrictions and years of being cut off from other countries’ diplomacy. He wants to receive help with the economy and military advancements.
While the two people met, urgent work was still going on at the place where the attack happened on the port that Putin uses as a main base for launching attacks on Ukraine.
Russian officials said that two ships being fixed were “damaged,” but they didn’t say which ships. They also mentioned that a patrol ship called Vasily Bykov destroyed three kamikaze sea drones.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, who was chosen by Putin to be the governor of Sevastopol, a place that is under control by another country, spoke and said: ‘I am at a place where a fire has started in the southern part of the Sevastopol Shipyard. ‘
All the services that are in charge of running things are currently doing their jobs. There is no risk to any buildings or places where regular people go in the city.
According to early information, 24 people were hurt in the attack, and four of them are in a decent condition.
‘We are giving full support to the victims. ‘
Talking about the attacks that happened at 3. 18am in the morning, one person who saw it said “This is a really terrible situation. ” I live on the side of the place that is towards the north. I heard missiles flying above us towards the bay, and then the loud noises of explosions began.
‘Three out of four missiles were directly above us. ‘
Another person who lives in Sevastopol said that there was a very loud explosion right outside their window and the sky looked like it was on fire.
Another person said, “I heard three loud explosions and the windows were broken. ”
Someone else said: ‘The building where I live is shaking because our air defense system is active. ‘
Another person said: ‘I heard a loud noise like a missile flying in the sky, followed by a big burst of light, a powerful boom, and then three more bursts of light. ‘
Afterwards, there was a loud explosion in the Streletskaya Bay region. It was not clear whether this was a new attack or if it was caused by Russian air defenses.
Putin didn’t say anything about the violence in Sevastopol when he came to meet Kim. Kim’s people seemed like they didn’t want the Russian media to film him.
‘I’m happy to see you,’ said Putin to Kim as they hugged and shook hands. Kim had arrived in a strange way on a train with a unique red carpet.
While they were together, North Korea shot two missiles towards its eastern seas, which made Japan and South Korea very worried once again.