Ukraine drone strikes spark fires at Russian depots, sea port
The Associated Press | Posted: August 22, 2024 11:15 AM | Last Updated: August 22
Drone attacks started blazes in recent days in Marinovka, Proletarsk in western Russia
A Ukrainian drone attack on Thursday sparked a fire at a military facility in southern Russia as Kyiv pushes its offensive in the Kursk region, where it has taken territory and prisoners, and struck key infrastructure including bridges, airfields and oil depots.
Andrei Bocharov, governor of the Volgograd region, said Thursday that a "defence ministry facility" was on fire after being attacked by drones in the area of Marinovka, in a sign that Ukraine is not letting up on its attacks. He did not specify what was damaged.
Meanwhile, another fire burned Thursday in Russia's Rostov region, where firefighters struggled for the fifth day to put out a fire at an oil depot in the town of Proletarsk caused by a Ukrainian drone attack on Aug. 18.
Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC analyzed Thursday by The Associated Press showed the fire at the oil depot still intensely burning as of Wednesday. Storage tanks at the facility appeared engulfed in flames. Visible flames could be seen in the images, with a thick black smoke cloud drifting west over the city of Proletarsk.
In another example of Ukraine's intensifying attacks on Russia, emergency authorities in Russia's Krasnodar region said a Ukrainian strike hit a cargo ferry loaded with fuel tanks at the port of Kavkaz, sparking a blaze. The port is on the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Russian Telegram channels posted videos purportedly showing a huge fire caused by the strike.
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Ukraine attacked Russia overnight with 28 drones, Russia's defence ministry said. Thirteen were shot down over the Volgograd region, seven over the Rostov region, four over the Belgorod region, two over the Voronezh region, and one each over the Bryansk and Kursk regions, the ministry said.
Russian Telegram channels said drones attempted to attack a military airbase near Marinovka in the village of Oktyabrsky. Videos shared on Russian social media showed an explosion in the night sky, reportedly near the base. Marinovka is about 300 kilometres east of the Ukrainian border and about the same distance west from the border with Kazakhstan.
The attacks came as Kyiv continues a ground offensive in Russia's Kursk region that has rattled the Kremlin. The daring operation is the largest attack on Russia since the Second World War and could involve as many as 10,000 Ukrainian troops backed by armour and artillery, military analysts say.
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Data from NASA fire satellites, which monitor Earth for forest blazes, showed fires breaking out around the Marinovka-area airbase's apron, where fighter jets were previously seen parked.
Kursk acting governor Alexei Smirnov said that authorities began putting up concrete shelters at bus stops and other locations around the city Thursday to protect from shelling.
He said similar work will be done in Zheleznogorsk and Kurchatov, where the Kursk nuclear power plant is located.
Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy toured the northeastern region of Sumy on Thursday in his first visit to the border area since his forces entered Russian territory.
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But the gains there come as Ukraine continues to lose ground in its eastern Donetsk region. The Russian defence ministry announced Thursday that its military has claimed control of the village of Mezhove.
The Ukraine military's General Staff said the fighting on the eastern front remained intense and that Russian troops had
launched 53 assaults and offensive actions on the front to the east of the transport hub of Pokrovsk in the last 24 hours.
launched 53 assaults and offensive actions on the front to the east of the transport hub of Pokrovsk in the last 24 hours.
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