MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has suspended ferry service between southern Russia and Crimea after a Ukrainian attack the previous day hit a ship full of train wagons carrying fuel, the Russian Transport Ministry said on Friday.
The Ukrainian navy said Friday it had destroyed a ferry at Port Kavkaz in Russia’s Krasnodar region, one of Russia’s largest Black Sea outlets. She said this ferry had been used to deliver fuel and weapons to Crimea, which Russia had seized and annexed from Ukraine. in 2014.
Russia’s Transport Ministry said in a statement that ferry service to Crimea had been temporarily suspended while clean-up work took place.
It was said that an alternative overland route could be used to send cargo to Crimea in the meantime.
State news agency RIA, citing emergency services, said a fire sparked by the Ukrainian attack had “virtually” not affected the port’s infrastructure, but the Ukrainian-hit ferry was half submerged.
Local authorities had previously said it had sunk.
According to Fyodor Babenkov, district head of the city of Temryuk, which includes the port, the ferry was carrying 30 train wagons full of fuel.
Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said on Thursday that 17 people had been rescued after the attack and that one person was not reported.
