At least five people were killed and over 100 injured when missile fragments scattered over beachgoers during a Ukrainian strike on the city of Sevastopol in Russia-occupied Crimea, authorities say.

“Unfortunately, we currently have 124 victims, of which three [are] dead children and two [are] dead adults,” Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a post on Telegram that Ukraine carried out the attack using “US-supplied ATACMS operational-tactical missiles equipped with cluster warheads.”

Four missiles were shot down by Russian air defense but another “deviated from its flight trajectory in the final section due to the impact of air defenses, with the warhead exploding in the air over the city,” the post added.

Video footage posted on X shows the aftermath of the strike, with wounded civilians seen being carried from the beach in stretchers before being loaded into vehicles. Beachgoers, some of them still in their swimwear, can be seen evacuating the area.

One of victims killed in the Ukrainian strike was the daughter of Oleg Averyanov, Deputy Mayor of Magadan. Yuri Grishan, the Mayor of Magadan, said Averyanov’s daughter Sofia was nine and on vacation with her parents in Sevastopol.

The casualties were partially caused by the timing of the strike, which came “at a time when civilians, some were returning from work, some had already gone to the beach with their children,” according to Governor Razvozhayev, who has announced a day of mourning.

According to eyewitnesses on the ground, there was no air raid siren which warned of the attack. Many local residents also took to the comment section of official posts to express their dissatisfaction about the air raid siren not alerting them to an incoming attack.

In response to Ukraine’s attack on Sevastopol, the Russian Ministry of Defense said “such actions will not go unanswered,” saying responsibility for the attack lied with Washington.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin is in constant contact with Sevastopol authorities, adding that the Russian government’s priority is to provide all necessary assistance to victims, RIA says.

Ukraine has not officially commented on the attack, but CNN has reached out to the Ukrainian military for a comment.

Crimea has been occupied by Russia since its forces annexed the peninsula in 2014. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, it has come under sporadic attack from Ukrainian forces.

Kyiv has previously insisted that its strikes on Crimea, which have targeted Russian naval bases and vessels, are an integral part of their strategy, intended to try to isolate the peninsula and make it more difficult for Russia to sustain its military operations on the Ukrainian mainland, a Ukrainian source familiar with the strategy told CNN last year.

Before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Sevastopol – the largest city in Crimea – was a popular tourist destination for Russians. Even after the outbreak of war, Russians have continued to flock to the coastal city despite the dangers.

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Russia blames U.S. for Ukrainian strikes that kill at least 5 and injure dozens in Crimea

Russia blamed Washington for a deadly strike on a strategic port in occupied Crimea on Sunday, claiming U.S.-supplied missiles were used in the attack. The strike left at least five people dead and dozens injured in one of the biggest attacks on the Russian-annexed peninsula in recent months.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said four U.S.-provided Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) rockets, were intercepted over the city of Sevastopol, but fragments from the fifth rocket led to “numerous casualties among civilians” on the ground.

“All flight missions for the American ATACMS operational-tactical missiles are entered by American specialists based on U.S.’ own satellite reconnaissance data,” the ministry said in a statement. “Therefore, responsibility for the deliberate missile attack on civilians in Sevastopol lies primarily with Washington, which supplied these weapons to Ukraine, as well as the Kyiv regime, from whose territory this attack was launched.”

NBC News could not independently confirm what type of weapons were used in the attack. The U.S. has been providing Ukraine with military aid to defend against Russia’s invasion, which started in February 2022. The Biden administration recently gave Ukraine permission to use American weapons to strike inside Russia, two American officials told NBC News.

The White House and the State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and considers it part of Russia, though it remains internationally recognized as Ukrainian territory.

“Such actions will not go unanswered,” the ministry added.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the city’s Moscow-installed governor, said three children were among the dead and more than 120 were injured, Russian state news agency Tass reported.

Razvozhayev declared Monday a day of mourning in the city and said he has been visiting the injured in the hospitals. Russian President Vladimir Putin called him immediately after the attack and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims, Razvozhayev added.

The governor accused Kyiv authorities of striking “on the sly” at a time when many residents were returning from church and the celebrations of the Orthodox holiday of Holy Trinity or were on the beach with their children.

His deputy Alexander Kulagin also told Tass that many among the injured were at the beach during the attack.

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said doctors were being sent from the capital to provide all necessary assistance, and Moscow clinics were ready to receive victims.

There was no immediate reaction from Kyiv. The country’s ministry of defense, ministry of foreign affairs and military officials did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has called the attack “an act of terrorism” carried out with U.S. weapons that should be condemned by the United Nations. Moscow-appointed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said the incident was “a barbaric, unscrupulous terrorist attack.”

Russian authorities have launched a criminal investigation into the attack.

Also on Sunday, Ukrainian authorities reciprocated with accusations of terrorism against civilians, reporting the latest deadly Russian strike on the border city of Kharkiv.

Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Russia continued to attack civilian infrastructure in the city with aerial bombs. The strikes on Sunday killed one person and injured 11, Syniehubov said, adding that the latest attack left part of Kharkiv without power, shutting down the metro in the country’s second largest city.

It comes just a day after three people were killed and 41 were injured in another attack on Kharkiv that damaged a five-story residential building, according to Syniehubov.

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