Ukrainian missiles yesterday hit gas-drilling rigs in the Black Sea owned by Crimea-based gas company Chernomorneftegaz. TASS reported Tuesday morning that there were 109 workers on the rigs at the time they were hit; 94 were evacuated, some are still missing. “The rescue operation continues in the Black Sea. According to preliminary information, we didn’t manage to rescue everyone, but there is still hope,” Oleg Kryuchkov, advisor to the Head of Crimea (an official title—ed.) on information policy, wrote on his Telegram channel.
Sergey Aksyonov, the Head of Crimea, asserted yesterday that there were no threats to the supply of gas to the peninsula after the strikes, as “we have a gas pipe laid from the mainland by the order of the president of the Russian Federation. If we suspend pumping in emergency mode now, we will have supply from the mainland,” he said. “This gas fully replaces the entire amount. So, there are no risks whatsoever to Crimea‘s gas supply.” Aksyonov also claimed that Crimea has sufficient air defenses to protect the entire peninsula, including the Kerch Strait bridge (which the neo-Nazis have been promising to blow up since it was built—ed.).
