Ukraine intensifies strikes of the marches, and Russia confronts and vows to respond

 Today, Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the downing of a Ukrainian drone over the territory of the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, at a time when Kyiv intensified its attacks on the Crimea peninsula, while Moscow vowed to respond to it.

Russian defense indicated that there were no injuries or damages as a result of the attack on Belgorod.

This comes hours after the Ukrainian forces launched drones and missiles at sites on the peninsula, including the Crimean Bridge.

The governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, confirmed that the Russian defenses shot down 3 missiles near the bridge, saying, "The bridge was not damaged."

Crimean authorities said that traffic stopped for some time, before resuming after the danger had passed.

Pictures on social media showed columns of smoke rising near the bridge linking Russia with Crimea.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the bombing was carried out by "S-200" air defense missiles, which were modified to hit ground targets.

Crimean Bridge - which Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to be built after the annexation of the peninsula in 2014 - has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian attacks.

For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry described the Ukrainian attacks on the Crimean Bridge as "terrorist" and said that it would not go unanswered.

After previous similar attacks, Russia responded with massive retaliatory strikes.

The last attack, last July, caused significant damage to the part used by cars, knowing that it is also used to transport military equipment to the Russian army.

In the development of the battles, the Ukrainian army announced - yesterday - that its forces had achieved partial success in the vicinity of the town of Robotin in Zaporizhia, indicating that those forces had penetrated to carry out "defensive attacks from there."

The Ukrainian General Staff had said that its forces were continuing to attack the axes of Melitopol and Berdyansk in Zaporizhia and that they had repulsed Russian attacks in Donetsk Province (east).

In a report published last Friday, the Washington-based American Institute for the Study of War said that Ukrainian forces had made "tactically significant progress" in their counterattack in Zaporizhia.

Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced - yesterday - the start of exercises for the Northern Fleet forces of the army.

The Russian Ministry said - in a statement - that the exercises are part of the annual exercises of the fleet forces, in which 8 thousand soldiers, 20 warships, submarines, and support ships participate.

It added that the exercises include carrying out special operations to isolate areas of operations and surrounding and destroying sabotage and reconnaissance groups.

And the Russian defense added that part of the coastal forces will be deployed to protect and defend the northern sea route communications and essential sites.

In turn, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected the remote garrisons of the Northern Fleet in the Arctic.

The exercises of the Russian Northern Fleet draw attention to the importance of the Arctic region in Moscow's strategic calculations.

The Northern Fleet is described as the most important historically, quantitatively, and qualitatively, among the fleets of the Russian army, consisting of 4 fleets, and its most important bases are located in the cities of Gremica, Severodvinsk, and Severmorsk, in the north of the country.

In a related context, the Ukrainian border guards placed a new banner on Snake Island in the Black Sea, confirming its recovery.

In a video clip transmitted by the Ukrainian forces, one of the guards said, "The next border sign will be installed in Crimea after the defense forces liberate it."

This island is located in the Black Sea off the coast of Odesa, and the Russian navy succeeded in controlling it at the end of the first day of the war, and then the Ukrainian forces regained it on June 30 last year.

Meanwhile, "Bild am Sonntag" quoted sources in the German company "Rheinmetall" that the latter will deliver to Ukraine a new generation "Luna" unmanned aircraft system by the end of this year.

This German newspaper added that the "drone package" consists of a ground control station that includes several drones, a launching device, and military trucks, noting that the drone system can be used as a reconnaissance system.