Ukraine conflict: Air raid alerts in Kyiv as multiple blasts rock Crimea

As air raid sirens wailed across most of Ukraine overnight for several hours, numerous explosions were reported in Crimea on Sunday, according to Al Jazeera.

The alleged drone attacks occurred on Sunday as the head of the Wagner paramilitary force urged Moscow to allow Chechen fighters to relieve his forces at the front-line city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and the UN nuclear chief warned of "dangerous" conditions surrounding the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

After the blasts, at least three uncrewed vehicles were downed over the port city of Sevastopol in Russia-annexed Crimea.

Damage from the assaults elsewhere on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, was not immediately known.

According to Al Jazeera, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Sevastopol governor appointed by Moscow, posted on the Telegram messaging service, "No objects [in Sevastopol] were damaged."

Recently, on May 3, as many as 16 people were killed by Russian air strikes in Ukraine's southern Kherson region on Wednesday, local prosecutors said.

"The death toll has risen to 16," the prosecutor's office said on Telegram, adding that "about 22" other people were "injured to varying degrees."

According to the regional prosecutor's office, the authorities announced a curfew from Friday evening.

"Under the procedural control of the Kherson District Prosecutor's Office, a pre-trial investigation has been initiated into the violation of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder (Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)," it said.

The attack came amid Russia's claims that Ukraine attempted to assassinate President Vladimir Putin when it flew two drones toward the Kremlin overnight.

Russia said Putin was not in the building at the time of the attack.