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Crimea depot fire
Early this Saturday, April 29, a thick cloud of black smoke rose over Sevastopol after two drones struck an oil depot in the port city on Crimea, causing a huge fire, according to footage compiled by The Telegraph and a Russian official cited by The New York Times.
“two drones struck an oil depot in this port city on Crimea, causing a huge fire”
The Courrier international report says local Russian authorities on the ground stated the blaze caused no injuries and was brought under control after several hours, and it adds that the pro-Russian governor said the contents of the tanks were not intended for gas stations and that the fire therefore does not threaten fuel supplies.
The same Courrier international account says a spokesman for Ukrainian forces quoted by The Guardian stated there is no information indicating Ukrainian responsibility for this fire.
In a separate account, the Ukrainian intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov told RBC that the explosion destroyed more than ten oil tanks, each with a capacity of 40,000 tons, and he added that the fire was God’s punishment for the murders in Uman, among them five children.
Courrier international also frames the attack as part of a broader pattern, saying Crimea is increasingly targeted by attacks while Kyiv aims to reconquer the territory and generally follows a policy of ambiguity regarding strikes that occur there.
Fuel, drones, and anger
EUobserver describes a fuel crisis in Crimea that sparked rare public anger, quoting Crimean governor Sergei Aksyonov saying, “Unfortunately, in the near future no larger amount of fuel will arrive for sale.”
The same EUobserver account says Aksyonov addressed people on his personal VKontakte account and that thousands of reactions were visible without logging in, with residents debating and expressing dissatisfaction including against “even the highest authorities.”
EUobserver also includes a post by Anatoliy Kovalyov that says, “In Crimea, people were already desperate; why not deliver Crimea fuel by rail across the bridge,” and it notes Kovalyov’s reference to 9 May and a claim about Putin’s television remarks to Pavel Zarubin.
In parallel, El Mundo depicts daily drone danger in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, describing how residents have had to learn to differentiate sounds to avoid catastrophe as FPV drones “hunt” begins at sunset.
El Mundo adds that on the 25th a Russian Molniya passed just a few meters from a gas station where the reporter was refueling, and it says gas station employees continued refilling the tanks without flinching.
Putin admits strain
Euronews reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged for the first time that the country is facing “una certa carenza” of fuel, while Ukraine continues to strike Russian energy infrastructure, including by setting another important refinery on fire in the south of Russia.
“una certa carenza" di carburante”
Euronews says the governor of the region, Veniamin Kondratyev, stated that debris fell and killed one person in Sloviansk and injured another in a nearby village in occupied eastern Crimea.
In the same Euronews account, Putin told officials dedicated to the fuel situation that Russia is “attraversando un periodo difficile,” but insisted that Moscow “onorerà tutti i suoi obblighi sociali,” and he promised to strengthen protection of oil facilities and increase fuel production.
Euronews also reports that Putin described Ukrainian attacks on refineries as an attempt to “provocare una frattura nella società russa” and to force Russia to stop, even temporarily, the advance of its troops along the front line.
The Courrier international report earlier said Crimea plays a crucial role in Moscow’s military strategy and its control of occupied territories in the south and east of Ukraine, and it described Sevastopol as hosting the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.
