An overnight Ukrainian drone attack on an oil depot near Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi sparked a major fire, Russian officials said Sunday, as the two countries traded strikes.
More than 120 firefighters attempted to extinguish the blaze, sparked after debris from a downed drone struck a fuel tank, Krasnodar regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram. Videos on social media appeared to show huge pillars of smoke billowing above the oil depot.
Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, temporarily stopped flights at Sochi’s airport.
Further north, authorities in the Voronezh region reported that four people were wounded in another Ukrainian drone strike.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 93 Ukrainian drones over Russia and the Black Sea overnight into Sunday.
Meanwhile, in southern Ukraine, a Russian missile strike hit a residential area in the city of Mykolaiv, according to the State Emergency Services, wounding seven people.
The Ukrainian air force said Sunday Russia launched 76 drones and seven missiles against Ukraine. It said 60 drones and one missile were intercepted, but 16 others and six missiles hit targets across eight locations.
The reciprocal attacks came at the end of one of the deadliest weeks in Ukraine in recent months, after a Russian drone and missile attack on Thursday killed 31 people, including five children, and wounded over 150.
The continued attacks come after US President Donald Trump gave on Tuesday Russian President Vladimir Putin a shorter deadline — Aug. 8 — for peace efforts to make progress.
Trump said Thursday that special envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Russia to push Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in its war with Ukraine and has threatened new economic sanctions if progress is not made.
Ukrainian drone attack sparks massive fire at Russian oil depot near Sochi
https://arab.news/rpjp3
Ukrainian drone attack sparks massive fire at Russian oil depot near Sochi
- Videos on social media appeared to show huge pillars of smoke billowing above the oil depot
- Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, temporarily stopped flights at Sochi’s airport
US will respond to Rwanda’s violation of peace pact, says Rubio
- Waltz told the Security Council meeting that the US “is deeply concerned and increasingly disappointed” by this resurgence of violence
WASHINGTON: Top US diplomat Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Rwanda had clearly violated the peace agreement it signed with the Democratic Republic of Congo in Washington last week and vowed unspecified “action” in response.
The Rwandan-backed M23 armed group advanced in eastern DRC and seized the key border city of Uvira, just days after the leaders signed the “Washington Accords” on Dec. 4.
“Rwanda’s actions in eastern DRC are a clear violation of the Washington Accords, and the US will take action to ensure promises made to the President are kept,” Secretary of State Rubio wrote on X.
FASTFACT
UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned the new offensive ‘has revived the specter of a regional conflagration with incalculable consequences.’
The capture of Uvira, along the border with Burundi, has raised fears that the conflict could escalate into a regional war.
As part of an offensive launched at the beginning of December in South Kivu province, the armed group’s takeover follows its earlier this year capture of Goma and Bukavu, other major cities in the DRC’s mineral-rich east.
On Friday, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz accused Rwanda of “leading the region toward more instability and toward war.”
“The Rwandan defense forces have provided materiel, logistics, and training support to M23 as well as fighting alongside M23 in DRC with roughly 5,000 to 7,000 troops,” not including possible reinforcements during the latest offensive, Waltz told the UN Security Council.
The Rwandan firepower has included surface-to-air missiles, drones, and artillery, he added.
Since taking up arms again in 2021, the M23 has seized swaths of territory, displacing tens of thousands and leading to a spiraling humanitarian crisis.
Earlier this month, UN experts said Rwanda’s army and the M23 had carried out summary executions and forced mass displacements of people in the region.
Waltz told the Security Council meeting that the US “is deeply concerned and increasingly disappointed” by this resurgence of violence.
The envoy denounced “the scale and sophistication” of Rwanda’s involvement in eastern DRC.
UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned the new offensive “has revived the specter of a regional conflagration with incalculable consequences.”
“Recent developments pose a serious risk of the progressive fragmentation of the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly its eastern part,” he said.
Burundi on Friday accused Rwanda of bombing its territory, and its ambassador, Zephyrin Maniratanga, told the council it “reserves the right to use self-defense.”
He warned that if the attacks continue, it would be extremely difficult to avoid an escalation between the two African countries.
“Rwanda is not waging war against the Republic of Burundi and has no intention of doing that,” Ambassador Martin Ngoga said.
Meanwhile, Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner criticized the Security Council for its “lack of action” and called for sanctions against Rwanda.
Despite a resolution adopted in February demanding the withdrawal of Rwandan troops and a ceasefire, “the situation is undeniable: another city has fallen, a parallel administration has consolidated itself, thousands more families have fled, and others have been killed, raped, and terrorized,” she said.
