A railway ferry loaded with fuel has sunk in the Russian port of Kavkaz following a fire that allegedly resulted from a Ukrainian attack, according to Russian media reports.
The port of Kavkaz is the second largest port in the Black Sea-Azov basin after Novorossiysk. It is located in the Kerch Strait, which separates Russia’s annexed Crimea from its mainland.
The Russian news outlet RBC, citing the operational headquarters of Krasnodar Krai, reports that the ferry named Conro Trader was carrying 30 fuel tankers when it caught fire and subsequently sank.
The incident occurred in the port of Kavkaz in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai on 22 August. Russian media and social media channels are attributing the fire to a Ukrainian missile strike.
Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Krasnodar Krai, said four crew members from the sunken fuel ferry have been rescued.
The exact number of people aboard the ferry during the incident remains unclear. Initial reports following the explosion suggested that five individuals were on board during the attack.
RBC reports that the sunken ferry was transporting 30 tankers filled with fuel, raising concerns about potential environmental impacts.
According to the pro-Kremlin telegram channel Mash, the Ukrainian military may have fired a Storm Shadow cruise missile at the port, and it hit the ferry Aquatrader, which was transporting fuel. There is no official confirmation of this information.
Ukraine has not officially commented on the attack on the Kavkaz port, but the head of the Presidential Office posted an emoji with a ferry and a red cross on his Telegram channel. However, he didn’t give any comments or directly state that his post was related to the information about the ferry attack.
In July, Ukrainian forces had already carried out several strikes on the Kavkaz port, damaging the Slavyanin rail ferry.
British military intelligence wrote that the Slavyanin was the only rail ferry on the route and was returned to service after the previous two were damaged in Ukrainian strikes on 29 May.
Follow-up:
Ukrainian Navy confirms Kerch Strait’s last Russian ferry destruction, implying Neptune missile use
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