Drone attack on ammunition depot in Crimea prompts evacuation, bridge closure

Jul 22 (Reuters) – A drone strike on an ammunition depot in Crimea prompted authorities to evacuate a 5 km (3 mile) radius and briefly halt traffic on the bridge linking the peninsula to Russia, the region’s Moscow-based governor said on Saturday.

Ukraine said its army had destroyed a Russian army oil depot and warehouses in what it called the “temporarily occupied” district of Oktiabrske in central Crimea.

The attack caused an ammunition depot to explode, Russia-installed Governor Sergei Aksyonov said, adding that no damage or casualties were reported. Images shared by state media showed a thick cloud of gray smoke at the site.

Aksyonov later said that all rail traffic in the affected area, temporarily disrupted, had returned to normal operation.

Russian news agencies quoted the Health Ministry as saying that 12 people required medical assistance and four were taken to hospital.

Russia seized Crimea and annexed it to Ukraine in 2014, eight years before launching its full-scale invasion of the country.

The brief interruption of traffic in the Crimean bridgeabout 180 km (110 miles) east of the drone incident, occurred five days later explosions there they killed two people and damaged a section of the road, the second major attack on the bridge since the start of the war.

The 19 km (12 mi) rail and road bridge is a vital logistical link for Russian forces, and is also heavily used by Russian tourists who flock to Crimea in summer.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying on Friday that the bridge was a legitimate target because it was a military supply route for Russia.

“This is the route that is used to fuel the war with munitions and this is being done on a daily basis,” he said.

Russia is on high alert for incidents at the bridge, with an official Telegram channel telling people not to panic in case of an alarm.

In another sign of security concerns in Crimea, Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to Aksyonov, warned people not to post images of critical infrastructure on the Internet.

He urged people who knew the authors of such posts to report them to the Interior Ministry or the FSB security service.

“Remember that a video posted on the web of military installations or other critical installations is work for the enemy,” he said.

Reporting by Caleb Davis, Mark Trevelyan, Olena Harmash, and Ron Popeski; Edited by Daniel Wallis

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