(Kyiv) Une attaque de drones a provoqué samedi un gigantesque incendie dans un dépôt de pétrole en Crimée annexée par Moscou et des villes occupées ont été bombardées, au lendemain de l’annonce par Kyiv que ses préparatifs pour une offensive de printemps étaient presque terminés.
L’incendie s’est déclaré dans un dépôt de pétrole à Sébastopol, le port d’attache de la flotte russe de la mer Noire en Crimée, ont annoncé les autorités locales.
Cette attaque présumée a eu lieu alors que la veille l’Ukraine s’est dite prête à lancer son offensive de printemps contre les forces russes afin de les chasser des territoires qu’elles contrôlent.
« Un incendie est en cours dans un dépôt de pétrole dans la baie de Kazatchia […]. According to initial information, it was caused by a drone attack,” Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvojayev wrote on Telegram, stressing that “no one was injured.”
Sixty firefighters were dispatched to the scene to fight the fire which is raging over an area of approximately 1000 m2 and should only be brought under control towards evening, he added.
“The situation is under control”, assured Mr. Razvojayev, affirming that “civilian infrastructures are not threatened”.
Quoted by the state-run Ria Novosti news agency, he then told reporters that a total of four oil tanks had been damaged and “burned out”.
The Kremlin did not comment on this attack.
Since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, has repeatedly been the target of aerial and naval drone attacks. The most important took place in October 2022.
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A large plume of smoke was visible on Saturday after the attack.
In mid-April, the authorities announced the cancellation of the celebrations of the 1er and May 9 (official date of the end of the Second World War in Russia) on the peninsula, citing “security problems”.
The drone attack came less than 24 hours after Russian cruise missile strikes hit apartment buildings including Uman, a city in central Ukraine, where at least 23 people were killed.
A total of at least 26 people were killed Friday in several Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities.
On Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said six children were among the dead.
A punishment from God
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the drone attack in Sevastopol, but military intelligence has suggested it was in retaliation after strikes in Uman.
TELEGRAM/ASSOCIATED PRESS SCREENSHOT
Sixty firefighters were dispatched to the scene to fight the blaze.
Andriy Yousov, from the intelligence services of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, assured that it was “a punishment from God, especially for the civilians killed in Uman”.
He advised residents of Crimea “in the near future to avoid being near military installations and facilities supplying the army of the aggressor”.
The governor of Sevastopol for his part called on the inhabitants of the peninsula “to remain calm”.
On Friday, Ukraine said preparations for a spring offensive were nearing completion.
“Preparations are coming to an end,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said of the major attack his country wants to launch to recapture territories occupied in the east and south by Russia.
In the south, Russian occupation authorities in the part of the Kherson region controlled by Russian forces said the town of Novaya Kakhovka came under “intense artillery fire” on Saturday.
According to authorities backed by Moscow, the power was cut in this city which fell into the hands of Russian forces on the first day of the invasion on February 24, 2022.
Russian forces called on residents of the city to “stay calm” and announced that work to restore power would begin “after the end of the shelling”.
The day before, Ukraine had indicated that the Russians had shelled the Kherson region and killed a 57-year-old woman in the village of Bilozerka.