Sale of groceries and petrol limited in Sevastopol ‘to avoid frenzy’; governor cancels introduced restrictions an hour later

Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev has cancelled the restrictions on buying over 3kg of groceries or three packs of certain foods as well as the ban on selling petrol in cans that he himself had announced an hour earlier. The new statement is posted on his Telegram channel. 

“The logistics of grocery and petrol deliveries through the liberated territories have been officially confirmed. There is no and will not be any deficit [of the goods],” he declared.

An hour before, Razvozhayev wrote that cans of petrol would no longer be on sale so as “not to provoke an artificial buying frenzy”. He emphasised that Sevastopol’s petrol reserves would last 40 days and essential food reserves — over three weeks. 

Previously, Crimea’s Ministry of Industry announced that grocery sales would be restricted on the peninsula. Afterwards, adviser to the head of Crimea Oleg Kryuchkov said that was not true and “there were and would not be any restrictions on sales of groceries”.

Earlier today, an explosion occurred on the Kerch Bridge. At the time of the explosion, a goods train carrying flammable materials was passing over the bridge. It caught fire. The arches of the bridge are undamaged.

Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee reported that an explosion of a truck had occurred on the bridge. As a result, two automobile spans collapsed, and seven fuel tanks of a train caught fire. By 10AM local time (GMT+3), the fire had been put out. Afterwards, Russia’s state-owned railway company Russian Railways suspended the sale of tickets on trains to and from Crimea.