The governor said that a fire in the Crimean fuel depot was put out after a drone attack

(Reuters) – The Moscow-appointed governor there said on Saturday that a fire at a fuel storage facility in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol had been completely extinguished.

Mikhail Razvozhev said in the Telegram messaging app that experts had examined the site and “it became clear that only one drone was able to reach the oil reservoir.” He added that another drone was also shot down, and its wreckage was found on the beach near the station. He said earlier that no one was hurt.

A Ukrainian military intelligence official said that more than 10 tanks of oil products with a capacity of about 40,000 tons were intended for use by Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, RBC Ukraine reports.

The official, Andrei Yusov, did not claim that Ukraine was responsible for the blast in remarks reported by RBC, calling the blast “God’s punishment” for a Russian strike on a Ukrainian city on Friday.

[1/4] A view showing smoke rising after an alleged drone attack in Sevastopol, Crimea, April 29, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

A spokesman for Ukraine’s armed forces said earlier that it had no information indicating that Ukraine was responsible for the fire.

Sergei Aksionov, the Russia-appointed head of Crimea, said on Telegram that the air defense and electronic warfare forces shot down two drones over Crimea on Saturday.

“There were no casualties or destruction,” he said.

Sevastopol, located 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.

Russian officials blamed the attacks on Ukraine.

Reporting by Reuters. Edited by William Mallard

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