(Bloomberg) -- The Kerch Strait ferry crossing, which connects Russian-occupied Crimea with Russia, was temporarily closed on Friday following a missile strike on a cargo ship in the Russian port of Kavkaz, according to the Interfax news service.
The cargo ship loaded with 30 tanks of fuel was hit by a Ukrainian missile on Thursday, according to local authorities. Rescue services are working to collect the spilled oil, Interfax reported, citing the Russian Transport Ministry.
The closing of the ferry crossing makes the supply lines to Crimea and the military forces there significantly more difficult. The Kavkaz port in the Kerch Strait is also an important center for Russian grain shipments.
Ukraine has intensified strikes again Russian targets as its troops continue to hold territory in the Kursk region in the first military incursion into Russia since World War II.
Russia says the Ukrainian military hit an oil depot on Aug. 18 in Proletarsk, near the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, which caused a fire covering an area of 10,000 square meters (12,000 square yards). The fire is yet to be extinguished as of Friday afternoon. Russia’s claims couldn’t be independently verified.
Ukraine has said it’s targeting airfields and military bases, as well as oil depots and refineries to disrupt both fuel and cash flows that feed the Kremlin’s war machine.
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