Reported Ukraine drone strike ignites major fuel blaze on Crimea

A massive fire was ignited in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol following a suspected drone attack on a fuel storage tank.

The blaze was assigned the highest ranking in terms of how complicated it will be to extinguish, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor, wrote on Telegram on Saturday, Al Jazeera reports.

The fire was still burning but it had been contained and no one was injured. The oil reservoir fire did not cause any casualties and would not hinder fuel supplies in Sevastopol, he said.

“The four fuel tanks that were hit, they are practically burnt out already,” said Razvozhayev, adding an area of 1,000 square metres (11,000 square feet) had been engulfed in flames.

An oil depot is on fire in Sevastopol after being hit by a drone in the early morning. pic.twitter.com/ll8zY2v8a2

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) April 29, 2023

“The situation is under the control of our firefighters and all operative services.”

Footage shared on social media showed flames engulfing fuel storage tanks and a thick plume of black smoke rising over the city.

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s armed forces said he did not have any information to suggest Ukraine was responsible for Saturday’s fire.

Sevastopol has come under repeated air attacks since Russia invaded Ukraine as a whole in February 2022. Kyiv has repeatedly declared its intention to retake the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014 to an international outcry.

After previous attacks on Crimea, Ukraine has stopped short of openly claiming responsibility but emphasised it has the right to strike any target in response to Russian aggression.

Razvozhayev reported on Monday the Russian military destroyed a Ukrainian surface sea drone that attempted to attack the harbour and a second drone had exploded. The blasts shattered windows in several apartment buildings but did not inflict any other damage, he said.

The attack was the most recent in a series of attempted strikes on Sevastopol, the main naval base for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. After previous attacks on Sevastopol and other areas, Ukrainian officials have stopped short of openly claiming responsibility but point out Ukraine’s right to strike any target in response to Russian aggression.