Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) said it had struck Russian trains carrying fuel and lubricants near the Dzhankoy railway station in occupied Crimea on early Thursday.
The city in northern Crimea also hosts an airfield for the Russian military, which has previously been a target of multiple Ukrainian strikes, including once in 2024 that took out a Russian S-400 missile system.
SSO, tight-lipped about the operation details, announced the attack on Thursday and said it complicated the logistics for the southern group of Russian troops.
“Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine conducted special operations near the Dzhankoy railway station. The operation took place on the night of Aug. 21. Special forces struck a Russian rolling stock with fuel and lubricants,” the update says.
“As a result of the special operations, the provision of the southern group of Russian troops was complicated,” it adds.
Photos and videos from local channels corroborated with SSO’s reports, with smoke visible in the area on Thursday morning.
Crimean Wind, a local Telegram channel, shared a photo of a train on fire – the same used by SSO – alongside a video showing smoke engulfing a nearby highway taken from the perspective of a bus.
Thursday’s attack on Dzhankoy appears to be part of a larger strike across occupied Crimea the same day.
Crimean Wind said Ukraine also targeted military units in Sevastopol, with drones reportedly intercepted over the Saky airfield near Simferopol.
“The loud sounds that were heard in the area of Voennykh Stroiteley Street on the territory of the military unit were the Black Sea Fleet, together with emergency response services (EMERCOM, police, ambulance and the Sevastopol Rescue Service), conducting exercises to practice extinguishing fires and eliminating emergency situations in conditions close to combat,” the governor of occupied Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev was quoted as saying.
“For obvious reasons, such exercises are not warned of in advance,” he added.
Crimean Wind also shared videos allegedly depicting Russian air defenses intercepting Ukrainian drones on Thursday morning.
Thursday’s attack followed a series of Ukrainian strikes targeting Russian logistics across occupied regions.
On Aug. 19, Ukrainian drones blew up a train hauling at least 30 fuel cars, torching nine of them immediately and igniting a blaze visible from space in the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia region.
In May, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR) also reported drone strikes targeting Russian fuel trains in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The Crimean Peninsula has been under Russian occupation since 2014, while the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine has been partially occupied since 2022.
The recent US-Russia talks suggest Kyiv might have to cede territories in exchange for Moscow halting its invasion, though President Volodymyr Zelensky later said it remains a subject of discussion between Kyiv and Moscow only.