A still image from a video shows smoke rising following an alleged drone attack on oil depot in Sevastopol, Crimea, April 29, 2023. Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS

Apparent drone attack: Fire at Crimea fuel depot extinguished

The Moscow-installed governor there said a fire at a fuel storage facility in Sevastopol, caused by an apparent drone strike, has been extinguished.

Published on:

30 Apr 2023, 10:47 pm

(Reuters) -A fire at a fuel storage facility in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, caused by an apparent drone strike, has been extinguished, the Moscow-installed governor there said on Saturday.

"Open fire was extinguished in an area of 1,000 square meters," Mikhail Razvozhaev said on the Telegram messaging app.

Earlier he said no one was injured and according to preliminary information the depot was hit by two drones.

Smoke rises over a fuel tank following an alleged drone attack in Sevastopol, Crimea, April 29, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, said on Telegram that air defence and electronic warfare forces on Saturday shot down two drones over the Crimean Peninsula.

A view shows smoke rising following an alleged drone attack in Sevastopol, Crimea, April 29, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

"There are no casualties or destruction," he said.

Sevastopol, on the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has come under repeated air attacks since Russia invaded the country as a whole in February 2022.

A view shows smoke rising following an alleged drone attack in Sevastopol, Crimea, April 29, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

Russian officials have blamed the attacks on Ukraine.

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

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by William Mallard, Andrew Heavens, Alexandra Hudson)