According to the governor of the port city of Sevastopol on the Black Sea peninsula, who was appointed by Russia, a drone strike struck an oil reservoir in Crimea and burned it ablaze. Sevastopol has suspicions that Kyiv was behind the assault, despite the fact that Kyiv has not admitted guilt.
On his Telegram channel, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the governor of Sevastopol appointed by Moscow, shared images and videos of the fire.
“According to preliminary information, the fire was caused by a UAV hit,” he wrote.
Social media users shared images of a raging fire and billowing black smoke in the sky. Since the Kremlin began its invasion of Ukraine last year, Sevastopol, a significant naval base that houses the Black Sea Fleet of Russia, has been the target of numerous drone attacks.
“The fire was reportedly caused by a Ukrainian UAV strike in the early hours today,” Alex Kokcharov, a London-based Country Risk analyst at S&P Global, said in a post on Twitter.
In a subsequent message, Razvozhayev stated that no casualties had been reported and that firemen were on the site attempting to put out the fire.
“Since the volume of fuel is large, it will take time to contain the fire,” he said.
The fire had essentially been contained, according to a later message that was sent at noon local time, and firemen were still dousing the scene with water.
A Ukrainian sea drone that attempted to strike the harbor was destroyed by Russian forces, according to Razvozhayev, and a second drone blew up, smashing windows in many residential complexes.
The leader of Crimea, a Russian politician named Sergei Aksyonov, claimed that local air defenses had destroyed three drones flying above the territory.
“In parallel with this morning’s drone attack on Sevastopol, air defense forces shot down one UAV in the skies over the Republic of Crimea and suppressed another one by electronic warfare. There were no casualties or damage. I ask everyone to stay calm,” Aksyonov said in a post on his Telegram channel.
After earlier attacks on Crimea, Kiev would typically refrain from claiming responsibility outright but would stress that it had the right to attack any target in retaliation for Russian aggression.
