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Tag: Crimean Peninsula

  • Lions maul worker to death as she went to clean cages at safari park, Crimea officials say

    Lions maul worker to death as she went to clean cages at safari park, Crimea officials say

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    A group of lions mauled a zookeeper to death at one of Europe’s largest big-cat parks on Wednesday after a door inside their enclosure was left unlocked, investigators in Crimea said.

    The mauling occurred at the Taigan safari park on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula, one of the largest breeding grounds for lions in Europe and home to around 60 of the predators.

    “A criminal case has been opened over the death of an employee at the Taigan lion park as a result of a predator attack,” the Moscow-installed Investigative Committee of Crimea and Sevastopol said in a statement.

    The employee who had worked at the park for almost 17 years died after she “went to clean a cage with three lions, without shutting the bolt of a door between two rooms of the enclosure,” investigators said.

    The park’s owner Oleg Zubkov identified the victim as chief zookeeper Leokadia Perevalova, calling the incident a “tragic” mistake.

    “It is unclear how and why this happened, as the animals could not have done such a thing on their own, and apparently there were no people around,” he said in a statement on his blog.

    “The employees who discovered the body, unfortunately, could no longer provide any assistance, since she had simply been torn to pieces,” he said.

    On his Telegram channel, Zubkov praised Perevalova as a “valuable employee” who was the “soul of our park,” adding that “the human factor of forgetfulness played a role.”

    “Unfortunately when I arrived there was nothing I could do to help. (They are) top predators and they do not forgive mistakes, he said.

    A criminal case has been opened into the death of a person by workplace negligence, investigators said.

    The sprawling 70-acre park was opened to visitors in 2012 on the site of a former military base. According to the park’s website, about 1 kilometer of elevated walkways allow visitors to observe lions roaming freely.

    Authorities closed the zoo for a month in December 2019 after they accused Zubkov of giving the animals expired feed, an allegation he denied.

    He accused Crimea’s Russian-installed authorities of trying to “bankrupt” his business and of deliberately freezing his projects after they seized power in 2014.

    Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 but is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.

    Fatal lion attacks at zoos are extremely rare. In 2018, a lion escaped its enclosure and killed a recent college graduate at a North Carolina conservatory during a routine cleaning. Authorities were told the lion was able to enter the same space as 22-year-old Alex Black because a large ball prevented the lion’s pen from closing.

    In 2013,  a lion killed a 24-year-old volunteer at a Central California animal park after it escaped from a feeding cage and attacked her while she was cleaning its enclosure area.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Ukrainian forces launch second missile strike on Crimean city of Sevastopol

    Ukrainian forces launch second missile strike on Crimean city of Sevastopol

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    Ukraine on Saturday morning launched a second missile attack on Sevastopol on the occupied Crimean Peninsula, a Russian-installed official said, a day after an attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet that left a serviceman missing and the main building smoldering.

    Sevastopol was put under an air raid alert for about an hour after debris from intercepted missiles fell near a pier, Gov. Mikhail Razvozhayev wrote on the messaging app Telegram. He later added that another missile fragment fell in a park in northern Sevastopol, parts of which had to be cordoned off. Ferry traffic in the area was also halted and later resumed.

    Loud blasts were also heard near Vilne in northern Crimea, followed by rising clouds of smoke, according to a pro-Ukraine Telegram news channel that reports on developments on the peninsula. Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, has been a frequent target for Ukrainian forces since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

    Ukraine’s second missile attack in two days on Sevastopol

    Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, told Voice of America on Saturday that at least nine people were killed and 16 others wounded as a result of Kyiv’s attack on the Black Sea Fleet, which is based in Sevastopol, on Friday. He claimed that Alexander Romanchuk, a Russian general commanding forces along the key southeastern front line, was “in a very serious condition” following the attack.

    Budanov’s claim couldn’t be independently verified, and he didn’t comment on whether Western-made missiles were used in Friday’s attack. The Russian Defense Ministry initially said that the strike killed one service member at the Black Sea Fleet headquarters, but later issued a statement that he was missing.

    Ukraine’s military also offered more details about Friday’s attack. It said the air force conducted 12 strikes on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters, targeting areas where personnel, military equipment and weapons were concentrated. It said that two anti-aircraft missile systems and four Russian artillery units were hit.

    What is the significance of Sevastopol in the war?

    Crimea has served as the key hub supporting Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Sevastopol, the main base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet since the 19th century, has had a particular importance for navy operations since the start of the war.

    Ukraine has increasingly targeted naval facilities in Crimea in recent weeks while the brunt of its summer counteroffensive makes slow gains in the east and south of Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said. Military experts say it is essential for Ukraine to keep up its attacks on targets in Crimea to degrade Russian morale and weaken its military.

    U.S. to provide Ukraine with long-range ATACMS ballistic missiles

    President Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at their White House meeting Thursday that the U.S. would give Ukraine long-range ATACMS ballistic missiles, sources told CBS News Friday.

    ATACMS — Army Tactical Missile System — have a range of up to 190 miles and can be launched from the HIMARS mobile rocket launchers the Ukrainian military has already received.   

    The missiles will allow the Ukrainian military to strike at Russian supply lines and command posts well beyond the front lines. 

    American officials had balked at sending the missiles to Ukraine, out of concern that drawing from stockpiles could undermine U.S. military readiness and the possibility Russia would view the move as escalatory.

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  • Russia says Ukraine killed 2 in attack on key bridge linking Crimea with Russian mainland

    Russia says Ukraine killed 2 in attack on key bridge linking Crimea with Russian mainland

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    Ukraine damages key Crimea bridge


    Ukraine damages key Crimea bridge

    01:50

    Moscow blamed Ukraine on Monday for a new attack that damaged the bridge that connects the Russian mainland with Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. Crimea is home to some key Russian bases used by Vladimir Putin’s forces in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. 

    Two people were killed and their 14-year-old daughter was injured in an overnight explosion on the bridge, the Russian government said. The bridge remained standing, though traffic was halted for some time.

    Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and its mountains and beaches are vacation destinations for Russian tourists. The 12-mile bridge over the Kerch Strait — the longest bridge in Europe — is the only direct link between Russia’s Krasnodar region and Crimea that avoids land routes mired in fighting. It serves as a visible reminder to Ukrainians of Russia’s claim over Crimea, and is a vital supply route for Russia’s military into occupied Ukraine.

    Ukrainian authorities did not confirm or deny responsibility for the attack on the bridge on Monday. 

    CRIMEA-RUSSIA-UKRAINE-CONFLICT
    A video grab taken from a Crimea24TV footage on July 17, 2023 shows the damaged Kerch bridge, linking Crimea to Russia.

    Getty Images


    Ukrainian Foreign Secretary Dmitry Kuleba told “CBS Mornings” that “one broken Russian bridge means fewer broken Ukrainian lives, because this bridge is being used to supplement the Russian army in the occupied Crimea and the occupied territories of the south of Ukraine with additional resources.”

    Russia said the attack was carried out by unmanned Ukrainian drones, and Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested that the U.S. and the United Kingdom also bore some blame.

    “Decisions are made by Ukrainian officials and the military with the direct participation of American and British intelligence agencies and politicians,” Zakharova said. “The U.S. and Britain are in charge of a terrorist state structure.”

    The last major attack on the bridge was in October.

    Russian authorities were organizing ferries to help transport some of the 50,000 tourists in Crimea back to the Russian mainland, The Associated Press reported, while others were urged to drive some 250 miles through parts of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces to get back home.  

    “Safety is ensured by the Russian army. It will be strengthened,” said Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed leader of a Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region. 

    He said the curfew would be relaxed, and while there would still be checkpoints, formal procedures to pass through them would be “reduced.”

    Haley Ott


    haley-ott-cbs-news.jpg

    Haley Ott is an international reporter for CBS News based in London.

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  • Suspected drone attack causes oil depot fire in Russian-controlled Crimea

    Suspected drone attack causes oil depot fire in Russian-controlled Crimea

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    A massive fire erupted at an oil depot in Crimea after it was hit by two of Ukraine’s drones, a Russia-appointed official there reported Saturday, the latest in a series of attacks on the annexed peninsula as Russia braces for an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.

    Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, a port city in Crimea, posted videos and photos of the blaze on his Telegram channel.

    Razvozhayev said the fire at the city’s harbor was assigned the highest ranking in terms of how complicated it will be to extinguish. However, he reported that the open blaze had been contained.

    Suspected drone attack causes oil depot fire in Russian-controlled Crimea
    In this handout photo taken from video released by the governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev’s Telegram channel on April 29, 2023, smoke and flames rise from a burning fuel depot in Sevastopol, Crimea.

    Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev telegram channel via AP


    Razvozhayev said the oil depot was attacked by “two enemy drones,” and four oil tanks burned down. A third drone was shot down from the sky, and one more was deactivated through radio-electronic means, according to Crimea’s Moscow-appointed governor, Sergei Aksyonov.

    Ukraine has not publicly claimed responsibility for the drone attack. However, a Ukrainian intelligence official called it “God’s punishment” for the wave of Russian military strikes across Ukraine the day before which left at least 23 people.

    Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considered illegal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview this week that his country will seeking to reclaim the peninsula in the upcoming counteroffensive.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Crimea last month to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula’s annexation from Ukraine. Putin’s visit took place the day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader accusing him of war crimes.

    The attack reported in Sevastopol comes a day after Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine, killing at least 23 people. Almost all of the victims died when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in the city of Uman, located in central Ukraine.

    Six children were among the dead, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said Saturday, adding that 22 of the 23 bodies recovered have been identified. Two women remained missing, Klymenko said.

    A cruise missile also struck a house on the outskirts of Dnipro in central Ukraine, killing a 31-year-old woman named Olga, and her 2-year-old daughter, Veronika. The woman’s uncle, Serhi, told CBS News that they had moved to the house from an apartment in Dnipro because they felt it would be safer there.

    Serhi said he was notified of the blast in a call from his brother at a hospital.

    “They told me to come urgently,” Serhi said. “My brother was in shock and he said, ‘Sergiy come as soon as possible, Veronika and Olga have died.’”

    Russian forces launched more drones at Ukraine overnight. Ukraine’s Air Force Command said two Iranian-made self-exploding Shahed drones were intercepted, and a reconnaissance drone was shot down on Saturday morning.

    Meanwhile, Razvozhayev said the oil depot fire did not cause any casualties and would not hinder fuel supplies in Sevastopol. The city has been subject to regular attack attempts with drones, especially in recent weeks.

    Earlier this week, Razvozhayev reported that the Russian military destroyed a Ukrainian sea drone that attempted to attack the harbor and another one blew up, shattering windows in several apartment buildings, but not inflicting any other damage.

    Ukraine’s military intelligence spokesperson, Andriy Yusov, told the RBC Ukraine news site on Saturday that the oil depot fire was “God’s punishment” for “the murdered civilians in Uman, including five children.”

    He said that more than 10 tanks containing oil products for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet were destroyed in Sevastopol, but stopped short of acknowledging Ukraine’s responsibility for a drone attack. The difference between the number of tanks Yusov and Razvozhayev gave could not be immediately reconciled.

    Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Nova Kakhovka, according to Moscow-installed authorities in the Russian-occupied part of southern Ukraine’s Kherson province. “Severe artillery fire” cut off power in the city, the officials said.

    The Ukrainian-controlled part of the province also came under fire on Saturday. Russian shelling in the area of the village of Bilozerka killed one person and wounded another, according to the Kherson prosecutor’s office.

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  • Russian Has One Main Bridge Into Southern Ukraine. Someone Just Blew It Up.

    Russian Has One Main Bridge Into Southern Ukraine. Someone Just Blew It Up.

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    In 2016, a Russian firm began building a bridge from mainland Russia to the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula, which Russian forces had seized from Ukraine two years earlier.

    Starting in 2018, the bridge became the main overland supply line connecting Russia to Russian-held territory in southern Ukraine. Until someone—Ukrainian operatives, apparently—blew up the bridge on Saturday morning.

    The partial destruction of the bridge over the Kerch Strait, east of Crimea, further isolates Russian forces in southern Ukraine at precisely the moment those forces need strong ties to Russia proper. Ukrainian forces in late August launched a counteroffensive in southern Ukraine that in recent weeks has gained momentum, and now threatens to surround significant portions of the Russian garrison in the south.

    This garrison no longer has a bridge to Russia. It now solely relies on ferries and aircraft for resupply.

    The double-span Kerch Bridge—a rail bridge running alongside a road bridge—suddenly exploded early Saturday morning. Videos, shot by motorists, captured both the initial blast and the subsequent blaze. “Sick burn,” the Ukrainian government quipped in a statement.

    It’s not obvious just how the apparent Ukrainian operatives blew up the bridge. It’s possible they sneaked explosives onto a train or truck. It’s also possible they sailed a robotic vessel laden with explosives underneath the bridge.

    The method is beside the point. The Ukrainians months ago proved they were capable of striking deep inside Russian-held territory using helicopters, rockets, artillery, drones and saboteurs. As Ukrainian deep-strike capability expanded, an attack on the Kerch Bridge became inevitable.

    What matters is the effect. Without the Kerch Bridge, the Russian force in southern Ukraine—tens of thousands strong—could begin to starve. Its most reliable lines of communication to Russia now are the railways running into occupied Melitopol. But Melitopol is on the left side of the wide Dnipro River, and Ukrainian forces have blown up almost every bridge across the river.

    All that is to say, there no longer is an easy way for the Russians quickly to move significant supplies or fresh troops into southern Ukraine. Cutting off Russian logistics could have profound consequences for Ukraine’s effort, eight months into Russia’s wider war on Ukraine, to liberate Russian-held territory and push back Russian forces all the way to pre-2014 borders.

    Most immediately, the destruction of the Kerch Bridge could weaken the Russian garrison in and around occupied Kherson. Ukrainian brigades already were marching toward Kherson. Now they should be able to march faster, against increasingly fragile Russian formations.

    Longer term, dropping the Kerch Bridge creates favorable conditions for a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive toward the port of Mariupol, which the Russians first destroyed then captured this summer. If Ukrainian forces can liberate Mariupol, they would sever overland links between Russian forces in eastern Ukraine and Russian forces in southern Ukraine.

    Severing the two contingents deprives both of the flexibility they need to reinforce each other. They’re stuck in place as Ukrainian brigade maneuver around them.

    In apparently blowing up the Kerch Bridge, the Ukrainians significantly have boosted their odds of liberating broad swathes of Russian-occupied Ukraine.

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    David Axe, Forbes Staff

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