Will Ukraine reach Crimea’s eastern flank?
Russian fuel freighter sunk – hit by “Neptune”?
22.08.2024, 18:59
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In a Russian port not far from Crimea, a ferry loaded with fuel catches fire and sinks. Russian bloggers suspect that a Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missile hit the ship. The attack also leads to missile alerts in Crimea.
According to official reports, a ferry loaded with fuel tanks caught fire and then sank as a result of Ukrainian shelling in a port in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar. Videos showed large flames and thick black clouds of smoke rising from an object in the port.
The region’s crisis team reported the operation on site to the Interfax news agency. Ultimately, the freighter sank. The ferry, loaded with fuel tanks, sank in the port of Kavkaz “due to the damage it sustained,” the regional administration said in the online service Telegram.
The port in the Krasnodar region is located on the opposite side of the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014 – just a few kilometers from the Kerch Bridge. At the same time, there was a missile alert in Crimea.
According to unconfirmed information from Russian Telegram channels, the ship was attacked with a Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missile. However, the official range of this weapon is 300 kilometers. The front line is – at least in large parts – further away.
Moscow uses the port intensively to supply its troops in its war of aggression against Ukraine. Ukraine, in turn, repeatedly attacks fuel supply facilities that are important to the Russian military. For example, Ukrainian drones struck a fuel depot in the southern Russian region of Rostov at the beginning of the week. The fire has not yet been extinguished, even after several days.