MOSCOW: Russia said on Monday it had destroyed four Ukrainian military boats carrying troops in the Black Sea.
"Naval aviation aircraft of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed 4 'Willard Sea Force' US-made high-speed military boats with landing groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Russia's defence ministry said on Telegram.
The ministry said the boats were "traveling in the direction of Cape Tarkhankut on the Crimean coast", without providing further details.
In a similar attack on August 30, Russia said its forces destroyed four Ukrainian military boats carrying up to 50 soldiers in the Black Sea.
Earlier on Monday morning, the ministry said it had repelled a separate Ukrainian attack over the Black Sea.
"Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were destroyed in the air over the Black Sea near the Crimean Peninsula," it wrote on Telegram.
Crimea was last attacked on Saturday when Russia destroyed three Ukrainian naval drones that targeted the bridge connecting the peninsula to the Russian mainland.
Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, has been targeted by Kyiv throughout Moscow's Ukraine offensive but has recently come under more intense, increased attacks.
Kyiv has repeatedly said it aims to take back Crimea.
On August 24, Ukraine said it flew its flag on Crimea, in a symbolic win during a "special operation" to mark its second wartime Independence Day.
Ukraine forces down 17 drones in Odesa region, strikes damage buildings
Ukrainian forces downed 17 Russian drones over the southern Odesa region, officials said Monday, adding that strikes caused damage in a district on the Danube river that borders NATO member Romania.
"Seventeen drones were shot down by our air defense forces," regional governor Oleg Kiper wrote on Telegram, adding there were no civilian casualties.
"But, unfortunately, there are also hits," he said. "In several settlements of Izmail district, warehouses and production buildings, agricultural machinery and equipment of industrial enterprises were damaged."
The Danube river port of Izmail has become a main export route for Ukrainian products via Romania following Russia's withdrawal in July from a UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal that had aimed to ensure safe grain shipments from Ukraine.
Ukraine's military said Russia had used Iranian-made Shahed attack drones in the "massive" overnight attack, which "was directed at the civil infrastructure of the area of the Danube".
The strikes come a day after Ukraine fought off a barrage of Russian drones in the Odesa region.
Russia's army said Sunday it had targeted fuel storage facilities in the port town of Reni, which also lies on the Danube river that separates Ukraine from Romania.
Monday's attack comes hours before a summit in Russia between President Vladimir Putin and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who hopes to revive the grain deal.