A drone attack by Ukraine led to the explosion of an ammunition depot in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and prompted the authorities to evacuate residents within a five-kilometer radius and suspend railway traffic, the governor of the peninsula announced today .

 

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Edited by| Hugh Gey

 

Politic section -  CJ journalist

 

Crimea – July,22,2023

 

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"As a result of an attack by an enemy drone on krasnogvardeisky district, an explosion occurred in an ammunition store," Sergei Aksyonov said via the Telegram application, adding that "the decision was made to evacuate people within five kilometers, and in order to reduce risks, the decision was also made to suspend train traffic on the railways in Crimea, and also briefly suspended traffic on the bridge connecting the peninsula and Russia.

There were no reports of damage or casualties, while footage broadcast by state media showed a thick cloud of smoke at the site.

Aksyonov confirmed that Ukraine had tried to attack the infrastructure in the center of the peninsula with drones.

"The enemy tried to launch a raid using drones against infrastructure in the krasnogvardeisky District of the Republic of Crimea,"he added. While Kiev did not immediately comment on the matter.

Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine and annexed it in 2014, eight years before Moscow's war on Ukraine.

The brief traffic stop on the peninsula bridge, located 180 kilometers east of the site of the drone attack, came five days after explosions there killed two and damaged the part of the bridge used by vehicles, the second major attack on the bridge since the beginning of the war.

The 19-kilometer-long bridge, consisting of a vehicular road and a railway line, is a vital logistical link for Russian troops and is often used by Russian tourists visiting Crimea in the summer.

Russia accuses Ukraine of carrying out attacks on the bridge, while officials in Kiev welcomed the attacks without directly claiming responsibility for them.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the bridge was a legitimate target because it was a military supply route for Russia.

"This is the road that is used to fuel the war with ammunition, and it happens every day,"he added.

Russia has declared a state of maximum alert from the possibility of accidents at the bridge, while an official on the "Telegram" channel called on people not to panic if the alarms are heard.

In another sign that there are security concerns in Crimea, Oleg krechkov, an adviser to Aksenov, warned people not to post photos of important infrastructure on the internet. He urged citizens who know the identity of the publishers of such publications to inform the Ministry of internal affairs or the Russian Federal Security Service.

"Remember that the publication of any video on the internet about the army or vital installations will be in the interests of the enemy,"he stressed.

An official channel on "Telegram" reported that traffic on the bridge connecting Russia and Crimea, after a brief traffic ban, was resumed on Saturday.

Ukraine fired cluster munitions on Friday at the Russian village of zhuravlivka in the Belgorod region, the governor of the region bordering Ukraine said today.

"In the Belgorod region, the Ukrainian army fired 21 artillery shells and three cluster munitions from a rocket launcher at the village of zhuravlivka," governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.

 

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