Ukraine allegedly strikes ammunition depot In Crimea

By Stefan J. Bos 

Residents looked bewildered as smoke billowed over the area near a railway in the Crimean peninsula. 

The Moscow-installed Governor of occupied Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said Ukraine was behind the drone attack. 

Ukraine's military appeared to confirm it had launched the drone strike, saying it had destroyed an oil depot and Russian arms warehouses in the Krasnohvardiiske area. 

However, it did not specify what weapons were used.

Russian authorities said the Ukrainian strike led to civilian evacuations and disrupted transport in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. 

Following Russia's full invasion of Ukraine last year, Kyiv pledged to recapture all territory, including Crimea. 

The latest attack also came after Russia hit ports in Ukraine following the collapse of a grain deal between the two countries on Monday. The agreement allowed Ukraine to transport grain through the Black Sea safely. 

Questions remain 

It was not immediately clear if or how many casualties were in Saturday's Crimea blasts. 

However, elsewhere the death toll continued to rise, including among journalists trying to cover Europe's most significant armed conflict since World War II.

Russia's Defense Ministry said a war correspondent for Russia's RIA news agency was killed, and three other Russian journalists were wounded by shelling near the frontline in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region on Saturday. 

The ministry claimed Ukraine launched an artillery strike on the journalists using cluster munitions, but those claims could not be immediately verified independently.