Ukrainian forces attacked an oil facility in Tuapse, a port town in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai, early on Friday, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram. The strike ignited a gasoline storage tank, sparking a fire that spread over more than 1,000 square meters (over 10,700 square feet), he said, adding that no injuries were reported.
Local officials did not specify what type of weapon was used, but local residents described hearing the sound of a drone, according to the Telegram channel Baza. At the same time, another witness told Astra that the blast was “too powerful to have come from drones.”
Several hours after the attack, the local news outlet Kuban 24 published footage of thick black smoke rising over the city. Despite the incident, schools and daycare centers in Tuapse remained open on Friday.
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council’s Center for Countering Disinformation, said the strike hit the Tuapse oil refinery, which is owned by Rosneft. “This refinery is of strategic importance to the Russian military, as it supplies fuel to the Black Sea Fleet and military infrastructure in the country’s south,” he said.
Neither Russia’s Defense Ministry nor Ukraine’s General Staff has commented on the strike.