Ukraine strikes Black Sea oil platform used as Russian military installation
- Rig attack was the first such strike in Crimea since the start of the invasion
- Russia says it repelled an attack on Ukraine’s Snake Island in the Black Sea
Ukraine has admitted striking an oil drilling platform in the Black Sea, saying on Tuesday it was being used by Russian troops as a military installation.
The attack, which took place on Monday, was the first such strike against offshore energy infrastructure in Crimea since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
It targeted a rig with four towers some 70km (44 miles) off the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula, which Ukraine said was being used as a military installation.
“On those towers, Russia had organised small garrisons and stored equipment for air defence, radar warfare and reconnaissance,” Sergiy Bratchuk of Odesa’s regional military administration told an online briefing.
“They were being turned into fortification points that were helping the Russians achieve full control of the northwestern part of the Black Sea,” he said, his remarks quoted by Interfax Ukraine.
Sergey Aksyonov, head of Russian-annexed Crimea, had on Monday accused Ukraine of firing on a Black Sea oil drilling platform off the peninsula, leaving three people injured and another seven missing.
