Crimea air-defense interceptions caught on camera (VIDEOS)

Air-defense systems intercepted an unidentified object in the sky over Evpatoria, a city located on the western coast of the Crimean peninsula, on Friday night. The interception was caught on camera. 

“In Evpatoria, presumably, the air-defense system was activated. Crimea is under reliable protection,” an adviser to the head of the region, Oleg Kryuchkov, wrote on his Telegram channel.

An explosion in the sky, followed by a trace of smoke, can be seen in the footage circulating online. 

Some outlets speculated that a Ukrainian drone may have been shot down, following yesterday’s news that an unmanned aerial vehicle had been intercepted by air-defense systems in the vicinity of the Belbek airfield in Sevastopol, Crimea’s largest city. Air-defense systems were also activated in the city of Kerch, near the Crimean Bridge. 

The reports came after Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov said Kiev’s pledge not to attack Russian territory with Western-provided weapons would not apply to Crimea, which was later confirmed to Politico by an unnamed official in US President Joe Biden’s administration. 

Crimea broke away from Ukraine following a violent coup in Kiev in 2014 and voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to rejoin Russia, which was not recognized by the West.