Ammo depot fire forces evacuation in Crimea

YEREVAN, JULY 19, ARMENPRESS. Crimean authorities have shut down a major highway and ordered the evacuation of four settlements in the immediate vicinity of an ammunition depot in the east of the peninsula, which“caught fire”on Wednesday morning, RT reports.

Crimean leader Sergey Aksyonov announced the plan to“temporarily evacuate residents of four settlements”at around 7:15am local time, shortly after announcing that a segment of the Tavrida highway was closed due to major blaze at a nearby military range.

Later in the day he reported that the evacuation order affected some 2,200 people, who will be provided all necessary assistance. Nobody was hurt in the incident, the official added.

The cause of the incident has yet to be officially confirmed, but several popular Telegram channels have shared videos purportedly showing the fire.

The incident comes a day after the Russian military reportedly intercepted at least 28 Ukrainian dronestargeting multiple locations across the peninsula.

On Monday, Kiev used two unmanned maritime surface drones to strike the Crimean Bridge.