Two oil depots are on fire in Russian-occupied Crimea following overnight drone strikes, after initial local reports pointed to a blaze at a thermal power plant in the Hresovsky settlement, part of Simferopol. Later updates clarified both fires involved oil facilities.
One blaze broke out at an oil depot in the settlement of Hvardiiske, which was also hit on the night of October 17 and was still burning a week later. Another fire was reported in Simferopol.
The Crimean Wind Telegram channel says the Hvardiiske facility belongs to the ATAN gas station network.
“Kedr LLC is the owner of Crimea’s largest chain of filling stations under the ATAN brand (more than 100 stations). In addition, Kedr LLC owns a network of oil depots and a fleet of fuel tankers.
After the October 17 attack, at least five fuel tanks at the depot burned. The smoke plume is now visible from space.”
There was initial confusion about the second blaze. Monitoring channels first reported a fire at a thermal power plant on the outskirts of Simferopol. It was later determined that another nearby oil depot had caught fire.
“At the Simferopol oil depot that is now burning, military fuel trucks equipped with camouflage netting and anti-drone protection were actively driving in and out yesterday, subscribers report. This depot is heavily used to supply the Russian occupation army,” Crimean Wind said in a post. .
Crimea’s Russian-installed leader Sergei Aksyonov said “as a result of an enemy UAV attack on the territory of Simferopol, there was a strike on a tank with fuel and lubricants.” He said a fire broke out, but there were no casualties.
He did not report a fire at the second oil depot in Hvardiiske.
Russia’s Defense Ministry earlier said five fixed-wing drones were shot down over Crimea and did not mention any fires at oil depots. Before that, the ministry said there had been three drones.
Also overnight on October 29, strike drones targeted an oil depot in the Russian town of Novospasskoye in Ulyanovsk region and the Stavrolen plant in Russia’s Stavropol territory.
On October 28, an explosion at a local thermal power plant on Sakhalin left hundreds of thousands of residents without electricity.
