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An enormous hearth erupted in Moscow-annexed Crimea after a suspected drone assault hit an oil depot on Saturday, as combating intensified on the southern Ukrainian entrance and shelling disadvantaged Russian border villages of energy.
The assaults got here at some point after Kyiv mentioned preparations for a long-awaited counteroffensive had been almost full, having vowed to expel Russian forces from territory they seized within the east and south following their 2022 invasion.
On Friday, a Russian strike on a bloc of flats within the central Ukrainian metropolis of Uman killed 23 individuals, together with a child boy.
On Saturday, officers in Moscow-controlled Crimea, cities beneath Russian occupation in southern Ukraine and a governor of a border area reported assaults.
Fears of Ukrainian reprisals greater than a yr into Moscow’s offensive have grown in Russia, the place a variety of cities have cancelled conventional Could 9 celebrations to mark Soviet victory over the Nazis on the finish of World Conflict II in 1945.
In Sevastopol, dwelling to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, clouds of smoke rose excessive into the sky as a gasoline reserved burned.
The port metropolis has been hit by a collection of drone assaults since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine started greater than a yr in the past.
– ‘God’s punishment’ –
Russian-installed authorities mentioned the fireplace was brought on by a suspected drone however sought to downplay the incident, amid rising safety fears on the peninsula.
The Kremlin mentioned nothing concerning the assault.
It got here lower than 24 hours after Russia struck a typical Soviet-era housing bloc within the historic metropolis of Uman, killing greater than two dozen of its residents.
Kyiv on Saturday recognized 5 kids killed within the assault as an 18-month-old boy, three women aged eight, 11 and 14, and a 16-year-old boy.
“One lady is taken into account lacking. The search continues,” Ukrainian Inside Minister Ihor Klymenko mentioned.
Ukraine didn’t declare the Crimea assault, however navy intelligence implied it was revenge for Uman.
Andriy Yusov, from the defence ministry’s intelligence unit, mentioned it was “God’s punishment, in notably for the civilians killed in Uman.”
He warned individuals in Crimea to “keep away from being close to navy amenities and amenities offering the aggressor’s military within the close to future.”
– ‘Intense shelling’ –
On the Russian-annexed peninsula, the governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, urged Crimeans to “stay calm” and mentioned “no one was harm.”
He estimated the fireplace was “round 1,000 sq. metres” (10,764 sq. ft).
Razvozhayev insisted that the peninsula’s reserves weren’t impacted and that authorities had sufficient gasoline for all civilian wants.
Earlier this week, Moscow mentioned it had repelled a drone strike on Crimea — annexed by Russia in 2014 and used as a launchpad for its invasion.
In southern Ukraine, Russian occupation authorities mentioned a key metropolis they management — Novaya Kakhovka — had come beneath “intense shelling” and had been minimize off from energy.
The town fell to Russian forces on the primary day of their invasion on February 24, 2022. It lies within the a part of the Kherson area that Moscow nonetheless controls, having withdrawn from the eponymous regional capital final November.
Russian forces urged individuals within the metropolis “to maintain calm” and mentioned that work to revive energy will begin “after the shelling ends.”
– Russian border villages shelled –
The shelling of Novaya Kakhovka got here a day after Russian shelling killed a 57-year-old lady in a southern Ukrainian village, with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky vowing a response.
Inside Russia, safety fears have grown amid speak of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
The governor of the border Belgorod area — that has additionally been hit by a collection of assaults all through the battle — mentioned Saturday that 5 frontier villages had been with out energy after Ukrainian shelling.
“The ability traces are broken,” Gladkov mentioned, including that there have been no victims.
He mentioned an uninhabited home had been hit and promised to revive energy shortly.
Elsewhere, Russia accused Poland — with whom it has traditionally poor relations — of a “blatant violation” of worldwide norms after Warsaw impounded a college run by the Russian embassy within the Polish capital.
Moscow referred to as the transfer an “unlawful act” and promised “harsh” penalties towards Warsaw.
bur/jm
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