Ukraine Strikes Crimea Infrastructure; Putin Acknowledges 'Huge Stream' of Drones
Ukraine destroyed a railway bridge, power plant, and other targets in Crimea, prompting lockdown measures. Putin commented on the strikes, while Russian officials considered banning diesel exports and canceling events.
Ukraine's special forces announced they destroyed a rail bridge over the North Crimean canal near Rozdolne village, a key logistics route for supplying Russian forces in southern Ukraine. A second strike targeted repair equipment deployed at the bridge. The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, imposed temporary measures: public transport closed from 10pm, large shops and cafes from 8pm, and street lighting dimmed. Petrol stations were banned from selling fuel to non-government users, and riding mopeds and motorbikes at night had been banned earlier. Ukraine's defense ministry said drones struck an oil storage depot at the Kerch thermal power plant, an electrical substation in the west, and a liquefied natural gas distribution station in Simferopol. Parts of Crimea lost power. President Vladimir Putin made his first comments on Ukraine's strikes, saying drones were coming in a 'huge stream' aimed at destabilizing society and disrupting energy supplies and tourism. He blamed the West and called for additional measures to offset consequences. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said officials were considering suspending diesel exports, adding to existing bans on jet fuel and gasoline. Scheduled maintenance at refineries was postponed. Crimea's sport ministry canceled all sporting events and children's training sessions until September 1, and summer camps stopped accepting children. In diplomacy, Moscow complained the US failed to deliver on understandings reached between Putin and Donald Trump at the Alaska summit last August. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested the summit may have been a US ploy to buy time to rearm Ukraine. Putin said Russia would enter negotiations based on the Anchorage discussions and the Istanbul agreements, which are maximalist Russian demands for Ukraine's capitulation. Analyst Oleg Ignatov said Russia wants US engagement but there is no structured process. Russian strikes killed nine people across Ukraine on Tuesday: in Kryvyi Rih, two men aged 25 and 34 and a 54-year-old woman died; three others in Dnipropetrovsk region; and one each in Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. Volodymyr Zelenskyy will skip a high-level reconstruction conference amid a deepening rift with Poland over naming a military unit after one that killed tens of thousands of Poles during WWII. The EU warned that only Russia, the aggressor, would benefit from worsening relations.
