Satellite photos show a series of fires of unknown origin in Russia‘s Black Sea waters near a Ukrainian island, according to NASA‘s Fire Information for Resource Management (FIRM).
The fires are located in the Black Sea in places without gas and oil-producing rigs, the Crimean Wind monitoring group said on Telegram.
The group posted photos of its findings from one month ago and on November 3, writing, “Something serious is happening at sea, about which we know almost nothing. The Ukrainian Defense Forces do not comment on the presence and causes of sea fires.”
Newsweek reached out to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and NASA for comment via email.
The Crimean Wind monitoring group also noted that permanent fire marks were recorded at the site of the “Boyko rigs,” and highlighted that compared to photos from October 2, a “new fire mark appeared on November 2” followed by two more a day later.
The fires are in the waters adjacent to Snake Island, also known as Zmiinyi Island, in the northwestern Black Sea near Romania. It remains a contested territory in the Russia-Ukraine war.
Snake Island is essential for civilian, trade, and military activities, as it is a key part of shipping in and out of the Black Sea, according to the head of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency.
Russia maintained control of the territory until Ukraine reclaimed it in June 2022 after Moscow withdrew its troops in a “gesture of goodwill.”
The Ukrainian Island was one of the first Russian targets at the beginning of the war. Before 2022, Moscow had captured several gas drilling platforms shortly after it annexed Crimea in 2014.
Last year, Ukraine said it regained control of the platforms, known as Boyko Towers.
In early October, a video surfaced of Ukrainian and Russian troops fighting close to the Black Sea outpost west of Crimea.
In the footage, Ukrainian soldiers are seen seizing gas production platforms in the night, which remained under Russian control.
A fire was also recorded in Feodosia on the Crimean coast early last month, but no details were released about what caused the fire, according to Reuters.
Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the Russian-installed head of Crimea, reported no casualties despite several fuel tanks going alight.
The Boyko Towers also previously caught fire at the end of August, as all three drilling platforms east of Zmiinyi Island were attacked.
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