Ukrainian authorities on Sunday accused the Russian government of recklessness after an oil tanker sank and a second ship ran aground in the Kerch Strait between mainland Russia and occupied Crimea during stormy weather.. Dmytro Pretenchuka Ukrainian Navy spokesperson said: “These are quite old Russian tankers. They cannot go to sea in such a storm. The Russians violated the operating rules. The result was an accident.”
The Bolgoneft-212 tanker was hit by a large wave and snapped in two, with the bow sticking out vertically from the water, video footage showed.. One of the 15 crew members died in the accident, and 11 others were taken to hospital.
The tanker was carrying 4,300 tonnes of low-grade fuel oil known as Mazut, and footage also showed a black oil slick around the vessel.. Commentators said that if petroleum products were to spill into the Black Sea, it would cause serious ecological damage to the marine environment, which has already been severely affected by the war.
Shortly after, a second tanker, the 132-metre-long Volgoneft 239, was found damaged and adrift in the same area.. Russia's Emergencies Ministry later said the ship ran aground 80 meters from shore near Taman Port, at the southern end of the Kerch Strait, which runs between mainland Russia and occupied Crimea.
The ministry later wrote on Telegram that efforts to evacuate the 14 crew members were suspended due to bad weather. The ministry said rescue teams were in contact with the ship and had all the necessary equipment on board to ensure the lives of the crew were not at risk.
President Vladimir Putin has instructed the government to set up a working group to deal with rescue operations and reduce the impact of the fuel spill.The news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying after Putin met with the Minister of Emergencies and the Minister of the Environment.
Ukraine's SBU Security Service said on Sunday that it had destroyed 40 rail cars carrying fuel for Russian troops in the Zaporizhzhya region, which Moscow holds in southern Ukraine. The SBU announced that one of its units organized a sabotage operation that damaged the railway line while the train was traveling near the village of Oleksiivka in the Russian-occupied region of Zaporizhzhia region. Trains stopped, tanker cars burst into flames, and army troops fired US-supplied Himal missiles at the scene, officials said. The account could not be independently verified and Russia had no immediate comment.
Russia announced on Sunday that Russian troops had marched toward the supply hub of Pokrovsk and the industrial city of Krakhove, capturing villages in two important frontline areas in eastern Ukraine.. The Ministry of Defense announced at a daily briefing that the military had “liberated” the villages of Vesely Gai south of Krahov and Pushkine south of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region.
Ukrainian drones struck a Russian National Guard campus in Russia's Chechen region on Sunday, as Kiev continues to fight back following a massive air attack from Moscow. Footage on social media showed the drone flying low over Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, 800 kilometers (500 miles) southeast of the Ukrainian front line, before exploding. No casualties were reported. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov confirmed that the drone had landed on the premises of the Akhmat Grozny riot police battalion and said that two other drones had been shot down by air defenses.
