Fourth Drone Strike Batters Russia’s Tuapse Port as Oil Fire Spreads
Moscow— A fresh Ukrainian drone strike hit Russia’s Black Sea port of Tuapse early on Friday, igniting a fire at the seaport terminal and marking the fourth attack on the strategic energy hub in the past week, regional officials said.
Authorities in Russia’s Krasnodar region said no injuries were reported, but emergency crews were deployed to contain the blaze at the port, which has become a repeated target because of its major oil terminal and refinery infrastructure.
“In Tuapse, as a result of a drone attack by the Kyiv regime, a fire broke out on the territory of the seaport terminal,” the regional emergency headquarters said in a statement on Telegram.Officials said 128 firefighters and 41 emergency vehicles were sent to the site to tackle the fire.
The latest strike comes days after a major drone attack on Tuesday triggered a large blaze at the Tuapse refinery, forcing a production shutdown and causing oil leakage into nearby coastal waters. The refinery fire was extinguished on Thursday morning, according to local Governor Veniamin Kondratyev.
A state of emergency has remained in place in the area since Tuesday as authorities continue cleanup operations along the Black Sea coastline.Emergency workers said on Thursday they had identified five additional oil-contaminated sections of coast. In total, officials reported removing 12,600 cubic meters of polluted material from beaches and surrounding areas.
The environmental fallout has disrupted daily life in Tuapse, with local authorities advising residents not to drink tap water or use natural spring water as a precaution and urging people to limit time outdoors due to elevated benzene levels in the air.
Russia’s consumer safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor recommended residents keep windows closed and avoid prolonged outdoor exposure. May holiday celebrations and large public events were canceled.The official reassurances triggered criticism online from residents who questioned statements that the situation remained safe.
“How about she comes to visit us and tries our fresh air?” one social media user wrote in response to comments by Rospotrebnadzor chief Anna Popova, who said the situation posed no health risks.
Tuapse, a major Black Sea export point for Russian oil products, has faced repeated attacks as Ukraine intensifies long-range drone operations targeting Russia’s energy infrastructure.Kyiv has increasingly focused strikes on refineries, ports and fuel depots deep inside Russian territory, seeking to disrupt one of Moscow’s main sources of war financing as global oil prices remain elevated during the Iran conflict.
Ukrainian drones also struck an oil refinery near the Russian city of Perm on Thursday, marking the second consecutive attack on oil facilities in the Ural region.Ukraine’s military separately said it had targeted a refinery in Russia’s southern Orenburg region, roughly 1,500 km from the Ukrainian border, underlining Kyiv’s growing capacity for long-range attacks.
Russia has not independently confirmed the extent of damage from those strikes.Ukraine says its campaign against Russian energy infrastructure is a response to sustained Russian attacks on Ukrainian power plants, fuel depots and heating systems, which have caused widespread blackouts and civilian hardship, particularly during winter.
Moscow and Kyiv have both escalated attacks on energy assets as the war enters another prolonged phase, turning fuel infrastructure into one of the central battlegrounds of the conflict.
