Russian officials have claimed a Ukrainian drone strike caused a massive fire to erupt at an oil depot in Crimea, the latest in a series of attacks on the annexed peninsula as Russia braces for an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, said the oil depot was attacked by “two enemy drones,” and four oil tanks burned down. A third drone was shot down from the sky, and one more was deactivated through radio-electronic means.
He said the fire at the city’s harbour was assigned the highest ranking in terms of how complicated it will be to extinguish. However, he reported that the open blaze had been contained.
Russia said no one was injured in the fire
(AP)
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considered illegal. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview this week that his country will be seeking to reclaim the peninsula in the upcoming counteroffensive.
Mr Razvozhayev said the oil depot fire did not cause any casualties and would not hinder fuel supplies in Sevastopol.
Ukraine has said it would be seeking to reclaim Crimea
(AP)
The city has been subject to regular attack attempts with drones.
Earlier this week, Mr Razvozhayev claimed a Ukrainian sea drone that attempted to attack the harbour was destroyed and another one blew up, shattering windows in several apartment buildings.
The attack on the oil depot in Sevastopol comes a day after Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine, killing at least 23 people. Almost all of the victims died when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in the city of Uman.
Children were among the dead, Ukrainian interior minister Ihor Klymenko said Saturday, adding that 22 of the 23 bodies recovered have been identified. Two women remained missing, Mr Klymenko said.
Ukraine’s military intelligence spokesperson, Andriy Yusov, told the RBC Ukraine news site on Saturday that the oil depot fire was “God’s punishment” for “the murdered civilians in Uman, including five children.”
Smoke rises following the alleged drone attack in Sevastopol
(REUTERS)
He said that more than 10 tanks containing oil products for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet were destroyed in Sevastopol, but stopped short of acknowledging Ukraine’s responsibility for a drone attack.
The difference between the number of tanks Mr Yusov and Mr Razvozhayev gave could not be immediately reconciled.
After previous attacks on Crimea, Kyiv also would not openly claim responsibility, but emphasised that the country had the right to strike any target in response to Russian aggression.
Firefighters deployed to extinguish the blaze at the oil depot in Sevastopol
(EPA)
Meanwhile, Russian forces launched more drones at Ukraine overnight. Ukraine’s Air Force Command said two Iranian-made self-exploding Shahed drones were intercepted, and a reconnaissance drone was shot down on Saturday morning.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Nova Kakhovka, according to Moscow-installed authorities in the Russian-occupied part of southern Ukraine’s Kherson province. “Severe artillery fire” cut off power in the city, the officials said.
The Ukrainian-controlled part of the province also came under fire on Saturday. Russian shelling in the area of the village of Bilozerka killed one person and wounded another, according to the Kherson prosecutor’s office.
Additional reporting by agencies.