A drone attack from Ukraine ignited a fuel storage facility in the Crimean port of Sevastopol early Saturday, causing a massive column of black smoke to rise into the sky. This marks the latest assault on the Russia-controlled peninsula. Sevastopol's Moscow-appointed governor attributed the strike to Ukraine, adding that the fire had been extinguished before it escalated into a disaster.
According to RBC Ukraine, a Ukrainian military intelligence official reported that over 10 oil product tanks with a combined capacity of approximately 40,000 tons, designated for Russia's Black Sea Fleet, were destroyed in the strike. As Ukraine gears up for a long-anticipated counteroffensive aimed at reclaiming territory captured by Russian forces since their February 2022 invasion, this attack serves as a precursor.
Ukraine insists that regaining control of its entire legal territory, including Crimea, is a crucial component of any peace agreement. Russian forces occupied the peninsula in 2014, and Moscow has since accused Kyiv of utilizing aerial and maritime drones to attack Crimea.
Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev stated that only one drone struck the oil tanks. He wrote on the Telegram app that Russian firefighters had demonstrated how to put out a significant fire "and prevent a catastrophe." Although Ukraine lacks long-range missiles capable of reaching locations such as Sevastopol, it has been developing drones to address this limitation.
Ukrainian officials rarely take responsibility for explosions at Crimean military installations, but they occasionally use ambiguous language to celebrate such incidents. Andriy Yusov, a Ukrainian military official, did not directly claim that Ukraine carried out the attack. Instead, he told RBC that the explosion was "God's punishment" in response to a Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Uman on Friday that left 23 people dead.
Yusov was quoted by RBC as saying, "This punishment will be long-lasting. In the near future, it is better for all residents of temporarily occupied Crimea not to be near military facilities and facilities that provide for the aggressor's army."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed to ensure that those responsible for the Uman attack would be held accountable as soon as possible. In a video address, he said, "You are all terrorists and murderers, and you must all be punished." However, Zelenskiy did not specifically mention the ongoing battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been the target of persistent Russian attacks led primarily by the Wagner private army.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner's founder, reported that his forces advanced between 100 and 150 meters on Saturday and claimed that only three square kilometers remained under pro-Kyiv control. Prigozhin, who has a history of making over-optimistic statements about Wagner's military achievements, complained in a Telegram voice message that Moscow was not supplying his troops with sufficient ammunition. Reuters could not immediately confirm his latest claim.
