DIRECT HIT Dramatic moment Russian ferry carrying fuel tankers explodes in huge fireball after ‘Ukrainian missile strike’ in Crimea
THIS is the shocking moment a Russian ferry loaded with fuel tankers exploded in a huge fireball after a reported Ukrainian missile strike.
Smoke and flames could be seen rising from the ferry at the port of Kavkaz, near annexed Crimea, in a raging inferno.
Russian officials on Thursday blamed Ukraine for sinking the ferry in the southern Russian port.
The ferry carrying 30 fuel tanks, as confirmed by Fyodor Babenkov, district head of the town of Temryuk which includes the port, sustained significant damage as a result of the attack, which caused a fire.
Any potential casualties are being assessed.
According to unofficial Telegram news channel Baza, 15 people were on board the ship and were missing after the attack. Ukraine has not immediately commented on the incident.
Russian state news agency TASS, citing the ministry of transport, reported that all port employees were evacuated.
A local task force said a special train to tackle the fire had been sent to the site, reportedly including more than 100 people.
Several Russian media outlets have shared images and videos that appear to depict the blaze and plumes of black smoke rising from the ship.
The fire didn't spread to the premises of the port, TASS reported.The port of Kavkaz is one of Russia's largest outlets on the Black Sea as it handles ships both for exports and for fuel supplies to Crimea.
"A railroad ferry carrying fuel was hit in the port of Kavkaz," the Russian governor of the Krasnodar region, where the port is located, said in a post on Telegram
Why has the Ukrainian invasion of Russia been so successful?
A DARING Ukrainian military push into Russia's Kursk region has become the largest attack on the country since World War Two.
Kyiv's forces have seized scores of villages, taken hundreds of prisoners and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians.
After more than a week of fighting, Russian troops are still struggling to drive out the invaders.
Why has Russian military been caught so unprepared?
A long undefended border
Russia's regions of Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod share a 720-mile border with Ukraine - including a 152-mile section in the Kursk region.
And it only had symbolic protection before Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.
It's been reinforced since then with checkpoints on key roads and field fortifications in places - but not enough to repel a Ukrainian assault.
The most capable Russian units are fighting in eastern Ukraine, leaving the border vulnerable to attack.
Element of surprise
Ukrainian troops participating in the incursion were reportedly only told about their mission a day before it began.
The secrecy contrasted with last year's counteroffensive - when Ukraine openly declared its goal of cutting the land corridor to annexed Crimea.
Ukraine ended up failing as troops trudged through Russian minefields and were pummelled by artillery and drones.
But in Kursk, Ukrainian troops didn't face any of these obstacles.
Battle-hardened units easily overwhelmed Russian border guards and small infantry units made up of inexperienced conscripts.
The Ukrainians drove deep into the region in several directions - facing little resistance and sowing chaos and panic.
Russia's slow response
The Russian military command initially relied on warplanes and choppers to try to stop the onslaught.
At least one Russian helicopter gunship was shot down and another was damaged.
Moscow began pulling in reinforcements, managing to slow Ukraine's advances - but failed to completely block troops
"As a result of the hit and the fire, the vessel sank," Governor Veniamin Kondratyev added.
Images on social media had earlier shown a fire and plume of smoke after Russian officials reported a Ukrainian attack on the port.
The Kavkaz port sits in the Kerch Strait that separates Russia from Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula it annexed in 2014.
Kyiv has heavily targeted Crimea - a key logistics and military hub for Moscow - since Russia launched its full-scale military offensive in February 2022.
Officials in Kyiv posted cryptic comments after the attack.
"Beautiful," Daria Zarivna, a communications advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a post on Telegram, attaching a photo of a large fire at the port.
Speaking at an event for army veterans earlier on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to call for his troops to step up attacks on Russian territory.
"In order to throw the occupier out of our land, we have to create as many problems as possible for the Russian state on its territory," he said.
Russian officials did not say what weapon Ukraine used to strike the ship.
Governor Kondratyev said search and rescue operations were ongoing for an unspecified number of crew members.
Four who went overboard have been rescued, he added.
Ukraine has hit multiple Russian vessels around the Black Sea throughout the 2.5-year conflict.
A spate of attacks earlier in the fighting prompted Russia to relocate its Black Sea Fleet from its historic base at Sevastopol, on the southern coast of Crimea, further east to Novorossiisk, on the Russian mainland.
It comes after Ukraine launched its biggest ever drone strike on Moscow in the latest devastating blow to Putin.
Russia's capital has come under one of the largest attacks by Ukraine drones so far following Kyiv's daring Kursk siege.
Russia's Ministry of Defence says it destroyed 45 Ukraine drones overnight.
It said that 11 were destroyed over the Moscow region, 23 over the Bryansk region, six over Belgorod, three over Kaluga and two over Kursk.
Plumes of smoke can be seen billowing into the sky in the attack.
Other footage shows flashes of light followed by explosions.
Meanwhile,
a Ukrainian MiG fighter jet launched a devastating bomb on a secret Russian headquarters.
Footage shows the suspected Hammer bunker buster tearing through the roof of an underground hideout as a huge fireball erupted on impact.
The French-supplied AASM guided bomb was dropped onto the Russian command bunker by a Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 Fulcrum.
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