A Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea yesterday blew up an ammunition depot, sparking evacuations on the Moscow-annexed peninsula and halting rail traffic, just five days after drones damaged Russia’s symbolic bridge across the Kerch Strait.
Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, has been targeted by Kyiv throughout Moscow’s 17-month long Ukraine offensive, but has come under more intense, increased attacks in the past few weeks.
In a counteroffensive launched to retake lands lost to Moscow, Kyiv has increasingly made clear that it aims to also take back the Black Sea peninsula.
Photo: AP
“The goal is to return Crimea,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, according to a transcript published by his office of a speech addressing the Aspen Security Forum on Friday.
He said that Kyiv considers the Crimea bridge — opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018 — as an “enemy object” and wants it to be “neutralized.”
Less than 24 hours later, the Moscow-installed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said an “enemy” drone had detonated an ammunition depot.
“As a result of an attack by an enemy drone on the Krasnogvardeisky District, an ammunition depot detonated,” Aksyonov said on Telegram, referring to an area that lies inland at the center of Crimea.
He did not specify exactly where it hit, but he ordered the evacuation of people living within 5km of the zone, without saying how many residents would be moved.
Aksyonov reported no casualties and said there was little damage, but unverified videos on social media showed billowing smoke rising into the air.
On Friday, Russia followed its withdrawal from a grain export deal by expanding its attacks from port infrastructure to farm storage buildings in Ukraine’s Odesa region, while also practicing a Black Sea blockade.
Other Russian missiles damaged what officials described only as an “important infrastructure facility” southwest of the port city of Odesa, in what appeared to be an effort to cripple Ukraine’s food exports.
Attacks have in recent days put Odesa in Russia’s crosshairs after Moscow abandoned a wartime deal that allowed Ukraine to send grain through the key Black Sea port.
In the attack on the storage site, two low-flying cruise missiles started a blaze, then another struck during firefighting efforts, Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said.
The barrage injured two people, damaged equipment and destroyed 100 tonnes of peas and 20 tonnes of barley, Kiper said.
Russia and Ukraine have said they would treat ships traveling to each other’s Black Sea ports as potential military targets.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said on Friday that the navy had conducted drills that simulated action to seal off a section of the Black Sea. In the maneuvers, a missile boat fired anti-ship cruise missiles at a mock target.
The ministry also said it fired long-range sea-launched weapons on facilities “used for preparation of terror attacks against the Russian Federation involving drones,” adding that “all the designated targets have been hit.”
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