On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that two Ukrainian drones attempted to attack the naval base in Novorossiysk, a major Black Sea port, but were destroyed by Russian ships.

“Tonight, the Ukrainian armed forces attempted to attack the Novorossiysk naval base with two unmanned sea boats. During the repulsion of the attack, the unmanned boats were visually detected and destroyed by fire from the standard weapons of the Russian ships,” Russian authorities said.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which loads oil onto tankers in Novorossiysk, said its infrastructure was not damaged by the attack and the oil loading is going on as usual. A temporary ban on ship movements in the port has been imposed.

The consortium has a pipeline system that connects Kazakhstan with a seaport in Novorossiysk, where oil is loaded onto tankers for shipment to world markets.

On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin and leaders of seven African countries involved in a peace mission on Ukraine agreed to continue their dialogue, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said, adding that “there are no exact dates yet.”

South African authorities released a joint statement by Putin and the African peace mission following their meeting on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit held in St. Petersburg in late July.

The mission, led by South Africa, also includes Comoros, Senegal, Zambia, Egypt, the Republic of Congo and Uganda. Their leaders agreed to continue the dialogue, supported lifting sanctions on Russian grain and fertilizer exports and acknowledged the progress made on humanitarian aspects of the initiative.

In June, the African peace delegation visited Ukraine and Russia and presented a ten-point peace plan that calls for ending the conflict through negotiation and diplomatic means and de-escalating tensions on both sides.