Ukraine's assault on Crimean shipyard wounds 24

A Ukrainian attack on a strategic shipyard early Wednesday in Russia-annexed Crimea wounded 24 people, damaged two ships undergoing repairs and caused a fire at the facility, Russian authorities reported.

The attack in the port city of Sevastopol, which serves as the main base for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, took place as Moscow launched drones against southern Ukraine’s Odesa region. The pre-dawn onslaught there damaged port and civilian infrastructure in the region’s Izmail district — not far from the Crimean city — and wounded seven people, three seriously, Gov. Oleh Kiper said.

Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 32 of 44 Shahed-type drones launched over the country overnight, most of them directed toward the southern parts of the Odesa region.

The fighting occurred as Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a summit that the U.S. has warned could lead to a deal to supply Moscow’s depleted troops in Ukraine with arms. Kim offered his full support for Russia’s “just fight” and said the two reached an agreement to deepen their “strategic and tactical cooperation and solidarity in the struggle to defend sovereign rights and security.”