Ferry Carrying Fuel Tanks Sinks In Russian Port After Ukraine Missile Strike

Ukrainian forces sank a Russian ferry carrying fuel tanks in a missile strike on a port in Russia's southern Krasnodar region on August 22, Russian officials said.

"As a result of the damage, the ferry sank in the waters of the Kavkaz port," the Krasnodar region's operational headquarters said on Telegram.

The headquarters reported earlier that "a railroad ferry with fuel tanks in the Kavkaz port was attacked" and that emergency services had been dispatched. Images circulating on social media showed a plume of dark smoke rising in the area of the ferry crossing.

The port sits in the Kerch Strait separating Russia from Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Moscow illegally annexed in 2014. Ukraine has issued no official comment on the incident, but Darya Zarivna, a communications adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, posted a photo on Telegram showing a large fire at the port and the word "Beautiful."

A photo shared on social media showing a blaze at the port of Kavkaz on August 22.

Fyodor Babenkov, the district head of the Russian town of Temryuk, was quoted by Reuters as saying the ferry was carrying 30 fuel tanks. The vessel sustained significant damage as a result of the attack, which caused a fire, Babenkov said.

The Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti said five people were on the vessel at the time of the attack and were unaccounted for. The Russian online news channel Baza reported that the number of people on board was 15 and all were missing.

All port employees were evacuated, TASS reported citing the Transport Ministry.

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Ukraine in recent weeks has taken bold steps, including a surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk region and attacks on fuel storage facilities and airfields inside Russia used to conduct attacks on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, in an effort to turn the tide of the war.

A drone strike earlier on August 22 on an airfield hundreds of kilometers inside Russia was the work of Ukraine's military intelligence, security sources told RFE/RL.

Zelenskiy, meanwhile, traveled to Ukraine's Sumy region that borders Kursk for the first time since the start of Ukraine's invasion there on August 6.

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The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) together with the Special Operations Forces early on August 22 struck the Marinovka airfield in Russia's Volgograd region, located 275 kilometers east of the Ukrainian border, SBU sources told RFE/RL on the condition of anonymity.

After the impact, "plumes of black smoke and a powerful detonation" occurred on the airfield surface, the SBU source said.

The strike targeted a storage site for fuel, antitank missiles, and glide bombs, the security source said.

Earlier, Russian Telegram channels, citing eyewitnesses, reported a series of explosions at Marinovka, and the Astra channel on Telegram posted a video showing what appeared to be a large explosion and plumes of black smoke rising above the airfield.

Volgograd Governor Andrei Bocharov said drone strikes ignited a fire at a military facility in the region but claimed the attack had been repelled.

"As a result of the UAV crash, a fire broke out on the territory of a ministry facility. Fire and rescue services quickly began extinguishing the fire," Bocharov said on Telegram, adding that there were no casualties.

Meanwhile, the airport of regional capital Volgograd, a city of some 1 million people 55 kilometers east of Marinovka, restricted the arrivals and departures of commercial aircraft.

Volgograd is the current name of Tsaritsyn, which from 1925 to 1961 bore the name Stalingrad, after Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Stalingrad became famous for its repelling a monthslong Nazi siege in 1942-1943 during World War II.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian military said late on August 22 that 135 combat clashes had taken place at the front during the day, and that Russia continues to concentrate its main efforts in the Pokrovsk area, where it attacked Ukrainian positions 53 times.

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A Russian military strike killed a 56-year-old man and injured eight others in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General's Office said .The injured included a 15-year-old boy, while residential buildings were also damaged.

After Zelenskiy met with Ukraine's top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskiy, in Sumy, a Russian drone attack killed two civilians and wounded a third.

During his visit to Sumy, Zelenskiy was briefed by Syrskiy on the operational situation in the area controlled by Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk, Ukraine's presidential administration said in a statement.

Sumy Governor Volodymyr Artyukh told Zelenskiy that following the start of Ukraine's operation in Kursk, the number of cross-border shellings and the casualties among civilians had dropped drastically, also allowing the start of infrastructure repairs badly needed after months of incessant Russian bombardments, the statement said.

Ukraine's leadership has repeatedly stated that its bold move into Kursk aims to establish a buffer zone inside Russia meant to protect Ukrainian civilians from cross-border Russian shelling.

Ukraine has also said it is not pursuing territorial gains from Russia.