Ukrainian attack on Crimea kills five, Russian officials say

Ukrainian attacks overnight killed at least five people across Russia and the annexed Crimean peninsula, Russian-appointed officials reported Thursday. The Russian defense ministry claimed to have downed 269 Ukrainian drones, with debris from one strike igniting a fire at the Poltavskaya oil depot in Crimea.

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Energy infrastructure has been damaged by hostile attacks. Consequently, temporary power outages will be implemented across Crimea.

Crimea's Moscow-installed governor, Sergey Aksyonov, stated that two people, including a child, died and two others were wounded in overnight attacks on the peninsula. Drone strikes in the bordering Bryansk region killed two people, while another person died in the Belgorod region. Aksyonov announced that temporary power outages would be implemented across Crimea due to damage to energy infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials reported that Russia attacked three rail locomotives, killing one driver, and hit two petrol stations across Ukraine. The attacks targeted the Sumy and Zaporizhzhia regions. Both Russia and Ukraine have been striking fuel and transport facilities throughout the conflict to disrupt supplies to each other's forces.

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Following the fall of UAV debris, a fire broke out at the Poltavskaya oil depot.

In parallel with the military actions, diplomatic tensions escalated as Russia expelled Romania's consul general in St. Petersburg. The Russian foreign ministry declared Cristian Istrate persona non grata, citing the upcoming closure of Romania's consular office there. This move followed Romania's decision last month to shut down the Russian mission in the port city of Constanta, further deteriorating relations between the two countries.

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Russia on Thursday expelled Romania’s consul general in St Petersburg in a move that the Romanian foreign ministry called “predictable.”