Ukrainian drones struck the tank farm at Russia’s Tuapse oil refinery and export terminal overnight, leaving at least one dead and setting several storage tanks alight — Kyiv’s second hit on the Black Sea facility in less than a week.
Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev confirmed the strike at the Tuapse seaport, with fires reported at multiple locations across the terminal. Tuapse Mayor Sergei Boyko said all available emergency and rescue personnel were on site.
Alongside the refinery, a gas pipeline, a church, and two schools took damage in the wider attack. Russia’s Defense Ministry reported shooting down 112 Ukrainian drones through the night across the country, with intercepts recorded above the Black Sea and Crimea.
The overnight assault came days after an April 16 strike on the same facility killed two children and injured several adults — a hit whose fires had barely cleared before Monday’s wave arrived. Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces claimed the April 16 attack, saying it destroyed loading infrastructure, fuel lines, and holding tanks at the marine terminal. Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed the strike, saying the strikes target Russia’s ability to fund its war and route energy exports around Western sanctions.
The Tuapse refinery is a Rosneft asset processing around 12 million metric tons of crude annually — placing it among Russia’s ten largest — and the adjacent port moves close to a tenth of the country’s total petroleum product exports. Ukraine has now targeted the facility at least nine times since the full-scale invasion began.
The day before Monday’s strike, Ukrainian forces also hit the Atlant-Aero facility in Taganrog, a plant that builds Molniya attack drones and Orion UAV components for the Russian military.
Related: Ukraine Strikes Novorossiysk Oil Terminal Again as Allies Press for Pause
Syrskyi reported Ukraine struck more than 75 industrial targets across Russia in March, with oil refineries among the primary focus. President Volodymyr Zelensky last week publicly criticized the Trump administration’s renewal of a temporary sanctions waiver on Russian oil — a measure aimed at calming markets rattled by the Iran war — arguing it allows Moscow to profit from the same conflict that Ukraine is fighting to survive.
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