According to the Ukrainian military, the drone attack on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia, on Saturday served to prepare for the planned counter-offensive. “The infiltration of enemy logistics is one of the preparatory elements for the powerful active actions of our defense forces, which we have been talking about for a long time,” Natalya Humenyuk, press secretary of the Southern Command of the Ukrainian Army, said on TV. “And this work prepares the large-scale offensive that everyone is waiting for.”
As a result of the drone attack, a large Russian fuel depot caught fire in the Crimean port of Sevastopol early on Saturday morning. According to Russian sources, there were no dead or injured. Civilian objects were also not damaged. However, according to the Ukrainian military intelligence service, ten oil tanks were destroyed. Specifically, Kiev has not claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Ukrainian military intelligence said such explosions would continue. A spokesman for the authorities called the detonation “God’s punishment especially for the killed citizens in Uman, among whom are five children”.
Russia has been openly at war with its neighbor for more than a year and currently occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. Internationally, an announced major Ukrainian offensive has been eagerly awaited for weeks. The attacked country also wants to take back the occupied areas with the help of Western weapons.