Drone strike causes massive oil depot fire in Crimea, Russia claims

A massive fire has been ignited in the occupied Crimean city of Sevastopol following a suspected drone attack on a fuel storage tank.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of the Black Sea peninsula’s port city, posted videos and photos of the blaze on his Telegram channel.

Mr Razvozhayev said the fire was assigned the highest ranking in terms of how complicated it will be to extinguish.

He did not say whether the drone he cited as causing the fire was Ukrainian.

The Russian-appointed governer of the occupied peninsula confirmed the attack on Telegram (Picture: AP)

The fire was still burning but it had been contained and no one was injured, he said.

No casualties had been reported as a result of the oil reservoir fire and fuel supplies would not be hindered by the blaze, he added.

‘The four fuel tanks that were hit, they are practically burnt out already,’ Razvozhayev wrote on Telegram, adding an area of 1,000 square metres (11,000 square feet) had been engulfed in flames.

‘The situation is under the control of our firefighters and all operative services.’

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considered illegal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his country is seeking to reclaim the peninsula during Russia’s current full-scale invasion.

The incident comes a day after Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine, killing at least 23 people.

Ukrainie has not claimed official responsibility for the attack (Picture: AP)

Almost all of the victims died when two missiles hit an apartment building. Three children were among the dead.

Crimea is among the most heavily fortified of Russia’s annexed territories, and Sevastopol has been subject to regular attack attempts with drones throughout the conflict, especially in recent weeks.

Earlier this week, Mr Razvozhayev reported that the Russian military destroyed a Ukrainian sea drone that attempted to attack the harbour and another one blew up, shattering windows in several apartment buildings, but not inflicting any other damage.

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s armed forces said he did not have any information to suggest Ukraine was responsible for Saturday’s fire.

After previous attacks on Crimea, Kyiv usually stopped short of openly claiming responsibility but emphasised that the country had the right to strike any target in response to Russian aggression.

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Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack.