According to the Ukrainian military intelligence service, ten oil tanks were destroyed in the fire in a fuel depot in the port city of Sevastopol on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea annexed by Russia. “Their total volume is about 40,000 tons,” said authority spokesman Andriy Jussow. “This is God’s punishment especially for the killed citizens in Uman, among whom are five children,” he said, referring to a Russian missile attack the night before. Specifically, Kiev has not accepted responsibility for the attack. At the same time, Yussow emphasized that these explosions continued.
The fuel depot exploded just after 4 a.m. on Saturday morning. The governor appointed by Moscow announced via the online service Telegram that it was a drone attack. A second drone was brought down from the sky with firearms as it approached. Their remains were found not far from the reservoirs.
For hours, dozens of fire engines worked at the Sevastopol fuel depot, a railway fire engine and resources from the Black Sea Fleet were also deployed to fight the fire. The fire was assigned the highest danger level. “Around 1,000 square meters” are said to have been destroyed by the flames. It was only after 3 p.m. local time (2 p.m. CET) that Rasvozhayev reported that the flames had been extinguished. According to the governor, no one was injured.
Sevastopol in Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, is the seat of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The strategically important port city has been attacked by drones several times since the beginning of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine. Just last week, Russian authorities announced that they had fended off a drone attack on the port.
Ukraine has repeatedly announced plans to liberate Crimea from Russian occupation. In various parts of the peninsula, in the course of Russia’s war of aggression against the neighboring country, there are incidents with drones, some with serious damage, injuries and deaths. Russia feels compelled to significantly increase the military effort to defend Crimea.
