The Weather Report for Sevastopol: cloudy with some bursts of...

The weather report for Sevastopol: cloudy with some burst of…

Video courtesy of Noel.

As Alexander Khara, foreign policy expert and advisor to the Ukrainian government, wrote to me this morning, “it’s going to be a hot summer :)”

The Insider: In Sevastopol, on the night of April 29, the Russian authorities have admitted that 4 fuel tanks ‘caught fire’ at 4:30am at an oil depot near Manganari Brothers Street in Kazachya Bay. The Navy Oil Refinery Storage Sidlow site in Sevastopol was used by the Russian Navy to refuel their ships. A reminder: this is the second attack in two days on infrastructure targets in Crimea.

The area of ​​the fire is about 1000 square meters, it was assigned the 4th class - high fire danger. As Krym.Realii writes with reference to its correspondent, the smoke from the fire began to partially dissipate only in the morning. He also said that gunfire was heard at the scene of the fire.

The occupying authorities of the peninsula claim that the fire started as a result of a drone attack. So, Mikhail Razvozzhaev, the "governor" of Sevastopol, wrote about this. He also said that information on the victims is being specified. According to TASS, employees of the cynological service arrived at the scene to check the territory of the oil depot for the presence of explosives. Also, the press service of Razvozzhaev stated that the residents of Sevastopol would not be evacuated from the Cossack Bay.

According to Denis Linevich, and yet to be verified, the chronology of the attack on Sevastopol was as follows:

1 . The take-off of 3 groups of Ukrainian Mugin 5-type UAVs from, Shkolny airfield, the Odessa region, through the northwestern part of Crimea in the direction of Simferopol, was noted. (Monique: Russian aligned accounts are reporting 6 UAVs)

2. Group 1 takes off around 01.00-01.30, the second 02.30- 03.00, the third 03.50

3. The flight of the UAV was noted in the areas of Distant, Stern, Guards.

4. At about 04.00, one UAV was destroyed by air defense forces in the Gvardeyskoye area.

At 04.23 the UAV hit the storage of petroleum products (Yugtorsan) between b.Kazachya and Kamyshovaya

The Ukrainian military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday. Kyiv almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

The attacked oil storage in Russian-occupied Sevastopol is at following coordinates:

• 44°35'1.02"N

• 33°25'2.22"E.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda

Russian reaction…

Olga Kovitidi, a so-called "senator from Crimea", quoted by The Insider, called for an immediate attack on Odesa after a fire at an oil depot in Russian-annexed Sevastopol.

We have no time for ‘slow dancing’. What has happened requires appropriate and tough decisions and actions.

All oil storage facilities in Odesa must be destroyed. A strategic decision to neutralise Odesa as a Ukrainian military base must be made.

Who dunnit…

From the Ukrainian General Staff: “Today is the 105th anniversary of the raising of Ukrainian flags on the ships of the Black Sea Fleet and the Sevastopol Fortress.” I wonder what May 9th will look like.

Note Bien: I’ll up-date information on the attack on Sevastopol in tomorrow’s Sunday Stories post.