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The Ukrainian army claimed responsibility for a strike on a major oil terminal on the peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, in Feodosia in the east. In online videos, two columns of black smoke can be seen rising from the site. The Russian authorities, for their part, acknowledged a fire on site and announced that part of the city was without electricity.
While kyiv has been struggling on the Eastern Front for more than a year, it has just claimed a small victory this Monday, October 7. The Ukrainian army claims to have struck a major oil terminal in Crimea overnight.
The Ukrainian authorities specify that they have targeted the terminal in Feodosia (eastern Crimea), the “largest” on the annexed peninsula and which notably supplies the Russian army, according to kyiv. “Defense forces carried out a successful strike on an enemy maritime oil terminal last night,” resulting in a fire, the Ukrainian army general staff said on social media. The attack was carried out using “missiles”, the army added.
Ukraine had already used long-range missiles in particular to strike the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol (eastern Crimea) in September 2023. However, in recent months, Ukrainian attacks had been carried out mainly using combat drones, kyiv deploring the lack of missiles and questioning the delay in Western deliveries.
Moscow confirms fire at site
Russian authorities confirmed a fire at the oil site, without naming the cause. Online videos show at least two large columns of black smoke rising into the sky. The Russian occupation authorities indicated that “part” of the targeted city of Feodosia was without electricity and that the circulation of commuter trains was suspended there.
Last night, in occupied Feodosia, drones hit not just a regular oil depot but an important transshipment hub for the Russians — an oil port that can receive tankers with oil products all year round, store them, and supply them throughout the occupied Crimea.
This is a serious… pic.twitter.com/lsyzkJ4o05— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1843224766078914904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
For the past year, kyiv has seen Russian forces move closer to Pokrovsk, a key city for the Ukrainian army’s logistics. Moscow continues to gain ground almost daily against less well-armed and fewer Ukrainians. Russia also welcomed on Monday the capture of a new village, that of Grodivka, located about ten kilometers east of Pokrovsk, an important node which connects several Ukrainian fortresses in Donbass, the east industrialist of the country. “Thanks to the resolute action of the units of the Center group, the village of Grodivka was liberated,” the Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Monday.
Playing into the hands of its adversary, Ukraine has intensified its attacks on Russian energy sites in recent months to disrupt the logistics of Moscow’s armed forces which occupy nearly 20% of Ukrainian territory. Since the start of its invasion, Russia has increased campaigns of strikes against the Ukrainian energy network, periodically leaving millions of Ukrainians without electricity. Some Ukrainian experts predict a further intensification of Russian strikes on civilian infrastructure, particularly energy, in the coming weeks, as winter approaches and the American presidential election in November.
