A major fire broke out at an oil depot in Sevastopol in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, over what local authorities said was a drone attack.

Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razugayev wrote on Telegram: "Fire breaks out in an oil depot in Kazachia Bay (...) According to preliminary information, it resulted from a drone attack," he said, stressing that "there were no casualties."

He added that 60 members of the fire brigades were sent to the scene to fight the fire that broke out in an area of about a thousand square meters, and it is not expected to be controlled until evening.

"The situation is under control," he said, adding that "civilian infrastructure is not threatened."

Russia's RIA Novosti news agency quoted Razuzhaev as telling reporters that a total of four oil tankers were damaged in the attack and burned.

Image from a video of the fire posted by the governor of Sevastopol via Telegram (Reuters)

Sevastopol is the main port of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea. Since the start of the Russian war on Ukraine in February 2022, Crimea has become a frequent target of air and sea drone attacks.

Ukraine has not officially claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly said his country is determined to retake all of its territory, including Crimea.

In mid-April, the authorities in Crimea announced the cancellation of the celebrations of the first and ninth of May (the official date of the end of World War II in Russia), citing "security problems."

Battles of Akhmut

On the other hand, the Ukrainian army confirmed the continuation of fighting between its forces and Russian forces in the city of Bakhmout, and in the directions of Avdiyevka, Marinka and Liman (east of the country).

He said that Ukrainian forces have repelled during the past hours Russian offensive operations, which he described as a failure on a number of areas of Bakhmut, and that the Russians carried out more than 40 attacks in several directions to the east.

The Ukrainian military noted that Russian troops are also carrying out sorties in the regions of Bakhmout and Marinka aimed at "destroying everything," as he put it.


Meanwhile, the authorities of the Kherson region (southern Ukraine) reported that two people were killed and others wounded as a result of the continued Russian bombardment of the province.

It said that the Russians had bombed Kherson more than 100 times in the past hours using heavy artillery and drones, and that residential areas and a hospital had been targeted.

Cities across Ukraine were hit by massive rocket strikes at dawn on Friday, killing 23 civilians in the city of Uman (center) and two others in the city of Dnipro (southeast), authorities said.

The strikes, billed as the first such Russian attack in nearly two months, came as Kiev says it has completed most preparations for a major counterattack on Russian forces.