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An apparent drone strike started a fire at a fuel storage facility in Sevastopol, the main port in Moscow-annexed Crimea, on Saturday, the Moscow-installed governor there said. The strike came as Russia hurled missiles at cities across Ukraine early Friday, killing at least 26 civilians in the first large-scale air strikes in nearly two months. Follow FRANCE 24’s live blog for all the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
9:50am: Huge fire starts at Crimea fuel depot after drone strike, pro-Moscow authorities says
A huge fire broke out on Saturday at a fuel depot in Sevastopol, the main port in Moscow-annexed Crimea, with the Moscow-installed governor saying it was the result of a drone attack. The fire was still burning but it had been contained and no one was injured, Mikhail Razvozhaev said.
Sevastopol is home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and has been hit by a series of drone attacks since the Kremlin’s Ukraine offensive launched last year.
“A fuel reserve is on fire in the Kazachya Bay district” of the city, the Moscow-installed governor of the peninsula Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram in the early hours of Saturday. “According to preliminary information, it was caused by a drone strike.”
He did not say whether the drone he cited as causing the fire was Ukrainian. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considered illegal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his country is seeking to reclaim the peninsula during Russia’s current full-scale invasion, and the city of Sevastopol has come under repeated air attacks since the start of the war.
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Key developments from Monday, April 24
Russia attacked cities across Ukraine early on Friday, killing at least 26 people, according to local officials. The deadly new attacks included a strike on a residential block in the historic city of Uman in central Ukraine. The barrage of almost two dozen missiles ended a weeks-long pause following the repeated Russian strikes that had aimed to paralyse Ukraine’s energy grid during the winter months.
Ukraine said it downed 21 of 23 Russian missiles and two attack drones overnight.
The new strikes came as Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said his country’s preparations to push back against entrenched Russian positions were almost complete.
NATO allies and partners have provided Ukraine with 1,550 armoured vehicles and 230 tanks to form units and help it retake territory from Russian forces, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.
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(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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