Videos posted on social media appeared to show at least one large drone apparently hitting a ship in the port of Kaspiysk in Russia's Dagestan region early Wednesday.
The port is the home of the Russian Navy's Caspian Flotilla, and the strike is the first time Ukraine has attacked Dagestan since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022.
The attack also came as Donald Trump, who has said he will end the Russia-Ukraine war even before entering the White House, emerged victorious in the U.S. presidential election.
Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, confirmed the incident in a Telegram post, saying: “A port was attacked in Kaspiysk, Russia. There are ships of the Russian Navy in Kaspiysk.”
Dagestan's governor, Sergey Melikov, said that air defenses had intercepted a drone over the city. But the social media footage showed multiple explosions, suggesting that more than one drone may have been involved.
A Telegram channel with reported ties to Russian security services, Baza, claimed that four drones targeted Kaspiysk, with one believed to have detonated near the naval garrison.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its forces had destroyed two other drones in different regions overnight but has not yet commented on the attack in Dagestan.
