Russia downs anti-ship missiles over Black Sea

MOSCOW — Russian air defense forces destroyed six Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles over the northwestern part of the Black Sea on Saturday, with the number of strikes on both sides increasing in recent days.

Attempts by the Ukrainian side to launch an attack using Neptune anti-ship missiles at targets on the territory of the Russian Federation were stopped at around 5 pm local time on Saturday, said the Russian Defense Ministry in a statement.

"Six Ukrainian missiles were detected and destroyed over the northwestern part of the Black Sea by the air defense systems on duty," it said.

In Crimea, Russia said its forces shot down four Ukrainian missiles on Saturday.

The attack came a day after Russia said it repelled a Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea, downing 36 of them over the peninsula.

"Air defense on duty intercepted and destroyed four Ukrainian missiles over the Crimea peninsula," the Russian defense ministry said.

Kyiv said it had hit the Saki air base in western Crimea.

The number of strikes on both sides has multiplied in recent days, with dozens killed and hundreds injured in the attacks.

Russia launched 28 attack drones and three cruise missiles at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine's air force said on Sunday, adding that its air defense systems destroyed 21 of the drones.

The air force said on its Telegram messaging channel that Russia targeted mainly the south and east of Ukraine, but it did not say what happened to the three cruise missiles that it says Russia had launched.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa visited Ukraine on Sunday to meet with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba to "show Tokyo's continued support "to Kyiv, a ministry official said.

The unannounced visit was a change to her original two-week plan of visiting Poland, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, Germany and Turkiye from Friday.

Kamikawa was due to travel to Kyiv from Warsaw on Sunday, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed on the eve of Orthodox Christmas to back soldiers who "with arms in hands" defend Russia's interests, and called on his people to be merciful and just.

State television footage showed the Russian leader attending with a small group of families of soldiers a midnight service later on Saturday at a chapel at his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo outside Moscow.

Russia plans to produce more than 32,000 drones each year by 2030, the TASS news agency cited First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov as saying on Saturday.

"The annual production volume of unmanned aerial vehicles, excluding educational UAVs, is planned at 32,500 units," Belousov told TASS. "This is almost three times higher than current production volumes."

Last year, Putin said the vehicles could be used across virtually all industries, not just the military.

Agencies via Xinhua