MOSCOW: Four people were killed and 28 wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian-controlled peninsula of Crimea, the Russian-installed governor said.

Separately, local authorities in Russia’s Krasnodar region said a Ukrainian drone attack on an oil transport facility, confirmed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, killed one person on a passenger ferry and set an oil terminal ablaze.

The Russian Defence Ministry said 239 Ukrainian drones had been shot down overnight. Crimean Governor Sergei Aksyonov said fuel stations across the peninsula suspended sales to the public and businesses, with supplies restricted to government agencies responsible for essential services and security.

Ukraine has recently intensified drone attacks on Crimea, home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, targeting the peninsula’s supply routes and triggering a fuel crisis as the holiday season starts.

A local power grid operator reported outages in several areas after damage to electricity networks, while ferry traffic across the Kerch Strait, separating Crimea from the Krasnodar region, was temporarily suspended.

Authorities also halted traffic on the bridge linking Crimea with Russia’s Krasnodar region for more than nine hours, leaving 11 trains running behind schedule.

Fuel supplies

“All of this is a just response to Russia’s brutal attacks against our people,” Zelensky continued. He added that Ukrainian forces also struck the Crimean Bridge connecting the peninsula to Russia, as well as radar and air defence systems.

After upgrading its long-range drone capabilities, Kyiv now says it can strike at will along the land corridor through occupied southeastern Ukraine that Russia uses to supply Crimea and its forces stationed there.

Ukraine has in recent months also stepped up drone attacks on energy facilities in Russia, striking targets deep behind the front lines. Earlier this week, it hit a large refinery in Moscow twice.

Ukraine says the attacks are aimed at denting oil revenues that Russia uses to fund the war. Some petrol stations in Russia, the world’s third-biggest oil producer, introduced fuel rationing this month. Fuel exports have been banned since April.

Energy Intelligence, a US-based energy research firm, said earlier this month that about a third of Russian oil refining capacity had gone offline because of Ukrainian strikes.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2026