Drones hit historic museum in Russia-annexed Crimea as officials alter train schedule
Ukrainian Drone Attacks Escalate in Crimea and Russian Regions
By Jekaterina Golubkova
June 10 (Reuters) - Ukrainian drones hit a historic museum in Sevastopol in Russia-annexed Crimea, local authorities said on Wednesday, as they reduced the number of nighttime trains in the face of intensifying air attacks.
Impact on Historic Sites and Local Infrastructure
The museum commemorates the 1853-1856 Crimea War between the Russian Empire and a coalition that included the Ottoman Empire. Russia was defeated in that war.
Sevastopol's Russian-installed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said on Telegram the museum's roof was on fire. He did not provide further details about the damage or whether there were any casualties.
"The enemy will pay for this sacrilege!" Razvozhayev said in his post early on Wednesday.
Alterations to Train Schedules
Elsewhere in Crimea, authorities cut train schedules for night hours, the peninsula's Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov said on Telegram, after a drone attack this week injured a train driver and killed his assistant.
The Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, is facing a fuel shortage following recent Ukraine drone attacks just as the holiday season starts.
Political and Diplomatic Repercussions
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week proposed face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin which he rejected. After the train incident, the Kremlin said Ukraine was undermining efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
Wider Impact Across Russian Regions
Drone Attacks on Oil Infrastructure
Elsewhere, the city of Novokuibyshevsk in Russia's Samara region, a major oil hub on the Volga river that hosts several refineries operated by the state-controlled oil giant Rosneft, was repelling drone attacks, regional governor said.
Authorities urged residents of the Samara city of one million people to seek shelter as public transportation was suspended amid air raid alerts, local media reported.
Oil Output and Energy Infrastructure
Continuing attacks by Ukraine on Russian energy infrastructure has forced Moscow to cut its oil output, the world's third-largest.
Fires and Alerts in Multiple Regions
In the southern Rostov region of Russia bordering Ukraine, falling debris from a drone triggered a fire in a fuel tank at a civilian site, and in the central Vladimir region two industrial facilities were on fire, regional governors said on Telegram.
In rare moves, remote Russian oil-producing regions Khanty-Mansiysk, Perm and Tyumen, as well as industrial regions Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk in the Ural mountains thousands of kilometres (miles) from Ukraine, issued air raid alerts, according to social media posts by local authorities.
Russian Defense Response
Overall, Russia downed 326 Ukrainian drones overnight, of which over a dozen were heading for Moscow, the defense ministry and Moscow's mayor said on social media posts.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
(Reporting by Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Neil Fullick)
