Ukrainian Drone Damages Ferry in Russian Port, One Person Dead

A Ukrainian drone attack damaged a ferry and killed one person in Port Kavkaz in Russia's southern Krasnodar region, regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Tuesday on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian military, also posting on Telegram, said the attack had "significantly damaged" the "Slavianin" which it described as the last railway ferry Russia had been using for military purposes in the region.

"The occupiers used this ferry to transport railway cars, vehicles, and containers for military purposes," Ukraine's General Staff said.

A fire at the port resulting from the drone strike was later extinguished, the RIA state news agency reported, citing an emergency services source.

Reuters could not immediately confirm accounts of the attack from either side.

Port Kavkaz is located on a spit of land opposite the Crimean peninsula. Ferries based there help to connect Russia's mainland with Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Russia also ships oil and grain exports from the port across the Black Sea. In May, the Ukrainian military said it had struck Port Kavkaz's oil terminal with missiles.

(Reuters - Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Andrew Osborn, Gareth Jones Yuliia Dysa and Ron Popeski)