Ukrainian drones strike Sevastopol museum and key Russian oil refineries

Ukrainian drones have struck a historic museum in Russia-annexed Sevastopol in Crimea, igniting a roof fire, as Russian authorities slashed nighttime train schedules amid intensifying air attacks across the peninsula and deep into Russia.

Sevastopol’s Russian-installed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, announced the damage on Telegram early on Wednesday.

“The UAV damaged the building of the Panorama ‘Defense of Sevastopol 1854-1855’ [painting], the roof is on fire,” he said. “This building is not just a museum, it is a symbol of resilience, which has repeatedly taken the blows of the enemy.”

The museum commemorates Russia’s 1853-1856 Crimean War struggle against a coalition including the Ottoman Empire.

Razvozhayev said that during World War II’s Siege of Sevastopol, “the Panorama building was subjected to massed bombing by German aviation”. He declared: “The enemy will pay for this sacrilege!”

Emergency services, including Russia’s Emergency Ministry and Sevastopol Rescue Service, were deployed to the site and extinguished the fire, Russian media reported.

Authorities in Crimea also cut nighttime train schedules after a drone attack on Monday wounded a locomotive driver and killed his assistant.

Crimea governor Sergei Aksyonov confirmed on Telegram that the drone struck passenger train number 68 Moscow-Simferopol, hitting the locomotive.

“The assistant locomotive driver was killed and the locomotive driver was wounded. Passengers were not injured,” Aksyonov said. Eight passenger trains were stopped, with all passengers evacuated by bus to Simferopol and Sevastopol.

The Black Sea peninsula, annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, faces fuel shortages following recent Ukrainian drone attacks as the holiday season begins.

Local reporting indicates that the unrestricted commercial sale of gasoline to civilians has been completely suspended across the peninsula. Fuel is currently being strictly rationed, reserved for emergency response services or accessible only via tightly monitored state-issued vouchers.

Russian Defence Ministry officials reported overnight that air defence systems destroyed 326 Ukrainian drones over Russia, with more than a dozen heading towards Moscow.

In Novokuibyshevsk in Russia’s Samara oil hub region, hosting Rosneft refineries, regional governors said authorities repelled drone attacks while urging one million residents to seek shelter. Russian OSINT channel Astra confirmed the Kuibyshevsk oil refinery was burning after at least 29 drones attacked.

In Russia’s Rostov region bordering Ukraine, falling debris from a drone triggered a fire in a fuel tank at a civilian site. In the central Vladimir region, two industrial facilities were ablaze.

Rare air raid alerts were issued in remote oil-producing regions Khanty-Mansiysk, Perm and Tyumen, plus industrial Ural mountain regions Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk.