Drone attacks in Crimea are pushing pro-Russian authorities to ban two-wheelers at night. Ten vehicles were shot down near Moscow, while strikes increased on Ukrainian infrastructure.
The pro-Russian authorities in Crimea announced this Tuesday, June 17, that they would ban, from this Wednesday, travel on motorcycles, scooters or quads at night, due to the noise of their engines comparable to that of drones.
Sergei Aksionov, the governor of the peninsula, specified that this temporary measure would be in force every night from Wednesday, from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
“The noise of mopeds disrupts the work of defense systems. Their engine makes a noise comparable to (drones),” Oleg Krioutchkov, Sergey Aksionov’s advisor, said on Telegram. “The enemy is recruiting your children to go around at night.” This measure does not apply to cars or larger vehicles.
Ukraine has recently intensified its drone attacks against Crimea and its supply routes, causing a fuel shortage on the peninsula, where the Russian Black Sea fleet is based.
Mikhail Razvojaev, governor of Sevastopol, announced Tuesday evening on Telegram the maintenance of gasoline rationing at 20 liters per vehicle at service stations.
10 drones shot down during the night
Ukraine also targets Russia’s energy infrastructure more generally. A Ukrainian drone led to a shutdown of an oil refinery in Moscow on Tuesday, sources said.
During the night, Russian anti-aircraft defense shot down 10 drones heading towards Moscow, the mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Telegram on Wednesday morning.
Russian attacks on towns in eastern and southeastern Ukraine left four people dead and caused fires in a residence and a shopping center, Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday evening. In the Donetsk region, on the front line, three people were killed and five others injured by two bombs in Sloviansk, the regional prosecutor’s office said.
In Zaporizhia, located 50 km from the shores of the Sea of Azov, Ukrainian police reported a wave of bombings carried out by dozens of drones, which killed one person in his car and injured seven.
Images posted online show flames in a building and on a roof, as well as a destroyed building facade. (JekaterÄ«na Golubkova in Tokyo, with Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar, French version Bertrand Boucey, edited by Benoît Van Overstraeten)
