image copyrightReuters
Article informationAuthor, Paul KirbyRole, BBC NewsJuly 19, 2023, 12:37 GMT
Last updated 1 hour ago
More than 2,000 residents of four villages in Russian-occupied Crimea are being evacuated after a fire triggered explosions at a nearby ammunition depot.
The officials installed by the Russians also closed off a section of the highway that crosses the southern half of the peninsula.
They did not explain the cause of the fire, which targeted a military training site near the city of Stariye Krym.
But unconfirmed reports on social media spoke of three Ukrainian strikes.
The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had been briefed on the incident.
The nighttime explosions coincided with a missile attack by a Russian drone, which officials said was largely aimed at the city of Odessa in southern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Air Force said that sensitive military infrastructure and installations were attacked by several waves of Iranian-made cruise missiles and drones, launched from the Black Sea, Crimea and southern Russia.
Russian missiles and drones penetrated the Ukrainian defenses, despite its success in shooting down 37 of them. Odessa officials said a number of people were injured and a number of apartments were damaged. A grain and fuel station in the port and two warehouses were hit, one of which was described as containing fireworks.
One resident told Reuters: “I saw a red light in the window and I acted immediately.”
“The moment I fell to the floor behind the bed, all the windows were shattered,” he added.
This was the second night in a row that Odessa was targeted in attacks linked to Russia’s withdrawal from an international agreement allowing the safe export of grain and fertilizers across the Black Sea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of deliberately targeting sites used to export grain.
“Every Russian missile is a blow not only to Ukraine but to every person in the world who wants a normal and safe life,” he said on social media.
image copyrightUKRAINE SOUTHERN OPERATIONAL COMMAND
Fuel facilities in the port of Odessa have been damaged in previous attacks on the city, a major hub for Ukraine’s grain exports.
Russia described its attack on Odessa as a “collective retaliation” for the strike on the bridge Russia has built over the Kerch Strait linking Crimea to Russia. Drones carried in the sea were blamed for Monday’s attack on the bridge, which destroyed part of it and killed a Russian couple.
The fire at an ammunition depot in Crimea on Wednesday led to the closure of a 12-kilometer section of the Tavrida highway linking the cities of Simferopol and Sevastopol to the bridge. The construction of the bridge began by the Russian occupation authorities in 2017.
A series of explosions were heard in the area around 04:30 (01:30 GMT) on Wednesday.
Russia’s appointed president in Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said the cause of the fire in the military field was being investigated and that no one was hurt.
He added that four settlements, inhabited by about 2,200 people, were evacuated near the affected area in the Kirovsky district of Crimea.
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2023-07-19 12:39:44
