KYIV – A fire broke out at a weapons depot at a Russian military training center in Crimea overnight, blocking a highway, as Moscow’s military fired on Ukraine with drones and missiles.
Kremlin-backed Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov he said The Tavrida highway, which connects the main cities on the Russian island, was closed and 2,200 people were evacuated from the area due to the fire, although the cause was not given.
“There was a fire on the battlefield. Researchers have found reasons, “Aksyonov he saidadding that the Russian air defense shot down 18 drones in Crimea.
Pro-Kremlin military bloggers report that either Ukrainian-made Grim-2 missiles or Britain’s Storm Shadow long-range missiles could have started the fire.
Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for destroying the weapons depot, and Andrii Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, told POLITICO: “We cannot confirm or deny.”
Meanwhile, Russia fired 31 missiles and 32 drones into Ukraine overnight, mostly in the Odesa region on the Black Sea. Ukrainian Air Defense Force report shooting down 14 of rockets and 23 of drones, while 14 missiles hit ports and complex infrastructure around Odesa.
Several residential buildings were destroyed in a “massive attack” in Odesa, with at least six people, including a 9-year-old child, who needs medical help due to injuries caused by glass and other objects, Oleg Kiper, chief of Odesa. military district, he said in his voice.
According to Kiper, Russia focused on Ukrainian ports for the second night in a row, after the Kremlin withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative on Monday.
“Grain and fuel sheds were hit, tanks and transport equipment were damaged, and fires started. A shopping mall in the Odesa district has hit, injuring a civilian worker and destroying two warehouses – one. [storing] cigarettes and other fireworks. “Firefighters are fighting a fire with an area of over 3,000 square meters,” Kiper said.