Fire at Crimean Fuel Tanker After Alleged Drone Attack

Facts

• A blaze engulfed a Crimean fuel storage site in the port city of Sevastopol after it was allegedly targeted by a Ukrainian drone attack on Saturday.¹
• Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of the city, said the fire grew to 1K square meters (11K square feet), damaging four fuel tanks.²
• Thick, black plumes of smoke could reportedly be seen as far as Yevpatoriya, a city roughly 40 miles (64 km) away.³
• Later in the day, Razvozhayev said the fire had been contained, and there were no civilian injuries.²
• Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials didn't comment on the incident. Following previous attacks on Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, Kyiv hasn't gone as far as to claim responsibility but has said the country has the right to strike any target in response to Russian aggression.⁴
• Crimea has been subject to regular drone attacks throughout the conflict, but particularly in recent weeks. Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his country aims to retake the peninsula as part of the country's looming counteroffensive.⁴

Sources: ¹US News & World Report, ²TASS, ³BNO News, and ⁴Associated Press.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Newsweek. After Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, the move was rightly not recognized by the international community. Crimea remains a part of Ukraine, and the country should be given the weapons it needs, such as long-range precision missiles, in order to achieve its objective of reclaiming its territory.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Defense One. After nearly a decade in Russian hands, Crimea is heavily fortified and any campaign to retake the territory would be fraught with difficulty. The only options are an amphibious assault — that requires air and naval superiority, which Ukraine doesn't have — or via a thin strip of land that's easy to defend. Ukraine should give up on such unrealistic ambitions.

Predictions