Russia’s Black Sea Tuapse oil refinery, owned by oil major Rosneft, was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack overnight, officials from the Krasnodar region reported on Monday. Debris from a drone shot down by Russian air defenses sparked a fire at the refinery, which was subsequently contained, according to the regional administration via the Telegram messaging app. There were no casualties reported.
The operational status and extent of the damage to the refinery remain unclear. This facility has been targeted by several Ukrainian air attacks since the onset of the war between Russia and Ukraine in 2022.
Russia’s defense ministry announced earlier that its air defense systems had destroyed 75 drones launched by Ukraine, including eight near the Tuapse refinery. Russian news channels SHOT and Mash reported hearing a series of blasts near the refinery early Monday.
The defense ministry detailed that drones were downed across various regions: 47 over the Rostov region, 17 over the waters of the Black and Azov seas, eight over the Krasnodar region, and single drones over the Belgorod, Voronezh, and Smolensk regions. However, the ministry did not specify whether all these drones were destroyed by defense systems.
Vasily Golubev, governor of the Rostov region, confirmed via Telegram that there were no injuries and no serious damage detected from the attacks. The full extent of damage from Ukrainian attacks is rarely disclosed by Russian officials.
Kyiv has frequently stated that its attacks on Russia’s military, energy, and transport infrastructure are retaliatory measures in response to Russia’s ongoing assaults on Ukrainian territory.
Melissa Enoch
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