Ukraine’s military says it has carried out a strike on a major oil terminal off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula, the latest attack on Russian-controlled power facilities.
Officials in Kyiv said the militants opened fire on the Feodosia facility – the peninsula’s largest oil refinery – in an overnight attack.
Officials stationed in Russia’s Crimea haven’t confirmed the strike, but admitted there was a fire in the area. No casualties were reported from the explosion.
A state of emergency has been declared in the municipality, as 300 people have been evacuated from Feodosia due to this fire, reports the government news agency Tass.
Videos circulating on social media appeared to show smoke billowing over the Feodosia terminal. Local officials stationed in Russia told RIA Novosti that efforts to put out the fire are ongoing.
Meanwhile, Moscow’s Defense Ministry said 12 Ukrainian drones were shot down over the peninsula overnight out of 21 launched by Kyiv.
In a statement announcing the attack, Ukraine’s general staff said oil products shipped from the port were being used “to meet the needs of the Russian military”. Russia illegally occupied the peninsula in 2014.
The facility was hit by a Ukrainian drone strike in March.
Kyiv has said its strikes on Russian power plants are appropriate retaliation for Moscow’s strikes on its energy infrastructure, which often put millions of people in the dark.
At least 80% of Ukraine’s thermal power and one-third of its hydropower were destroyed in the Russian attack, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in June.
The Crimea blast comes as officials in Kyiv said the air force shot down 32 drones and two missiles fired at the Ukrainian capital overnight by Russia.
Air Force officials said another Kinzhal missile managed to evade air defenses and hit the area around Starokostiantyniv airfield in Khmelnytskyi region.
Starokostiantyniv came under constant Russian fire over the summer, when Moscow sought to house a base for F-16 fighter jets donated by the West.
About 65 F-16s have been sworn in by NATO countries since US President Joe Biden approved the European allies’ willingness to send them to Ukraine in August 2023.
The first batch of jets arrived earlier this summer, and a new delivery is said to have arrived from the Netherlands on Monday.
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