A Ukrainian aerial attack on a southern Russian port has hit a Russian ferry carrying fuel tanks, causing it to sink, Russian officials said.
"As a result of the damage, the ferry sank in the waters of the Kavkaz port," in Russia's southern Krasnodar region, just across from the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, the region's operational headquarters said in a statement on Telegram.
The ferry carrying 30 fuel tanks, as confirmed by Temryuk district head Fyodor Babenkov, sustained significant damage that ultimately led to its sinking.
Any potential casualties are currently being assessed.
A local task force said a special train to douse the fire had been sent to the site with more than 100 people were engaged in tackling the blaze.
Ukraine has not immediately commented on the incident.
Several Russian media outlets have shared images and videos that appear to depict the blaze and plumes of black smoke rising from the ship.
The port of Kavkaz is one of Russia's largest outlets on the Black Sea. It handles ships both for exports and for fuel supplies to Crimea.
Ukraine tried to strike Russian nuclear plant - Putin
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of trying to strike Russia's Kursk nuclear power plant in an overnight attack and said Russia had informed the UN nuclear safety watchdog about the situation.
Acting Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov told Mr Putin that the situation at the Kursk plant, which has four Soviet graphite-moderated RBMK-1000 reactors, was "stable".
"The enemy tried to strike at the nuclear power plant during the night today," Mr Putin told a meeting of senior officials about the situation in Russian border regions.
"The International Atomic Energy Agency has been informed, they promise to come themselves and send specialists to assess the situation," Mr Putin said.
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He did not provide further details about the incident or provide documentary evidence to back up his assertion.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine and Reuters was unable to independently confirm the attack.
Ukraine's lightning 6 August incursion into Kursk, the biggest into Russia by a foreign power since World War II, saw thousands of Ukrainian troops punch through Russia's western border, apparently catching Russia by surprise.
Fierce fighting around 30 km from the nuclear plant has since then has raged as Russian troops battle to dislodge the Ukrainian soldiers who have sought to consolidate and expand the territory they control.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on 9 August appealed for maximum restraint to avoid a nuclear accident at the Kursk plant.
Mr Putin's comments come after a Russian guided bomb attack in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region bordering Russia's region of Kursk killed two people, according to prosecutors.
Russian troops dropped two guided bombs on civilian infrastructure, according to the regional prosecutors' statement on Telegram.
One person was injured in the attack, it added.
Russia repels new Ukrainian attempt to pierce border
Earlier, Russian forces prevented a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance team from piercing the border in the western Bryansk region, about 240km from the site of Ukraine's incursion into the neighbouring Kursk region, a Russian official said.
Russia said yesterday that its forces had advanced in eastern Ukraine and had begun to push back Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region, though a senior commander cautioned that Ukrainian forces were regrouping for another possible attack
Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said that Federal Security Service border guards and Russian military units repelled an attack by a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance team yesterday.
He said the attempted incursion took place in the Klimovo district which borders Ukraine's Chernihiv region.
The Bryansk region lies northwest of the Kursk region where a Ukrainian incursion has been underway since early August.
Ukraine smashed through the Russian border in the Kursk region on 6 August in an attempt to force Moscow to divert troops from the rest of the front, though Russian forces have continued to advance in eastern Ukraine in recent days.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited border areas in the Sumy region, just aross the frontier from the Kursk region.
"I visited the border area of the Sumy region and held a meeting with Commander-in-Chief (Oleksandr) Syrsky and the head of the Sumy regional military administration," Mr Zelensky said on social media.
Mr Zelensky said his troops had seized another settlement and "replenished the exchange fund," meaning it captured more prisoners of war to be used as leverage for future swaps.
Ukrainian officials have said the goals of the offensive included creating a "buffer zone" in Russian territory, seeking an end to the war on "fair" terms and stretching Russian forces.
Kyiv's troops are however still struggling in the eastern Donbas region, where the Russian army has been making steady gains.
Russia's army also said that it had captured another village in Ukraine's eastern Donesk region.
The defence ministry in Moscow said its forces had captured the village of Mezhove, located between Avdiivka, captured in February, and the logistics hub of Pokrovsk, toward which Russian troops are advancing.
