Ukrainian soldiers launch a drone at Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk Region, on December 15, 2022 (AP)

Russian air defense systems and naval forces are repelling an attack by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on the Russian port city of Sevastopol in Crimea, Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev confirmed.

"The air defense forces and the fleet are repelling an attack by enemy UAVs on Sevastopol over the sea around Cape Khersones, Sevastopol Bay and Balaklava," Razvozhayev said on Telegram in the early hours of Sunday.

The governor emphasized that all Sevastopol emergency services are on high alert.

In a later post on Telegram, Razvozhayev indicated that a total of eight drones attempted to attack Sevastopol on Sunday.

"One UAV was shot down over the sea and five were suppressed by electronic warfare forces. Also, two surface drones on the outer roadstead were destroyed," he pointed out.

Razvozhayev confirmed that the drones caused no damage to infrastructure and there were no casualties.

According to the local Department of Transport, the movement of passenger ferries and boats in Sevastopol Bay has been temporarily suspended.

Later, the governor said that "according to updated data, another drone was shot down near Cape Manganari," bringing up the number of drones destroyed to nine.

In a related context, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson told Sputnik that aviation of the Russian Tsentr Group of Forces has made more than 40 sorties to strike at temporary deployment points, an ammunition depot, and eight areas of concentration of manpower and weapons of the Ukrainian military.

The spokesperson confirmed that in the Serebryanskyy forest area, Ukrainian troops made four attempts to attack Russian positions, but suffered significant losses.

According to the spokesperson, "A tank, two infantry fighting vehicles, and an armored fighting vehicle were destroyed as a result of the air strike and fire attack from the mortar batteries of the ‘Tsentr’ Group of Forces. The enemy suffered significant losses in manpower."

In addition, the spokesperson pointed out that Russian forces inflicted fire damage on seven Ukrainian targets using Solntsepek (Blazing Sun) thermobaric rocket launchers, in the Krasnolymanska direction.

Ukraine launched its long-advertised counteroffensive in early June after multiple postponements. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukrainian troops continue to try but are failing to advance along three directions: South Donetsk, Bakhmut, and Zaporozhye, the latter being of primary focus.

Last week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed that Ukraine's losses since the beginning of the counteroffensive amounted to more than 26,000 troops and 3,000 units of various weapons.

Shoigu considered that the Ukrainian military has not reached the goal of the counteroffensive in any of the directions.