Ukrainian forces attacked drilling platforms in the Black Sea owned by a Crimean oil and gas company, the pro-Russian head of the annexed peninsula said on June 20.
According to Reuters, three people were wounded and a search was under way for seven workers from the Chernomorneftegaz energy company. In addition, work on three drilling platforms had been suspended after the hit, with fires reported.
As Sergei Askyonov, the Russian-installed head of Crimea, said, Ukraine hit the platform at 0800 local time (0500 GMT), when 109 people were working on platforms in the area.
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The rigs are located off Ukraine’s south coast in the Black Sea, 71 km from Odesa, the RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing Olga Kovitidi, a senator representing Crimea in Russia’s upper house of parliament.
Russian officials have expressed concern over Ukrainian military figures saying they would like to target Crimean infrastructure – such as the Kerch bridge linking Crimea to Russia – as part of a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south.
At the beginning of June, Ukrainian media published photos of a product tanker that was allegedly hit by cluster submunition and damaged. According to information, a single submunition hit the tanker Brentix towards the bow on the morning of June 1.
The explosion appears to have penetrated the deck and the side of the hull in way of a pump room, causing damage to hull plating and piping. The blast sparked a fire, but was extinguished quickly.
