On the night of April 28, Ukrainian drones attacked an oil refinery in Tuapse. As a result of falling drone debris on the facility’s grounds, a fire broke out, with no casualties reported, the operational headquarters of Krasnodar Krai said, reports The Moscow Times.The refinery, owned by Rosneft, is among the top 10 largest in the country and is the only one on Russia’s Black Sea coast. It had previously been struck on April 16 and 20.
At least four storage tanks are on fire at the Tuapse oil refinery, according to analysis by CyberBoroshno.
In previous attacks, the tank farm was hit, but this time the refinery itself has been directly struck.
During the first attack, a fire broke out, while the second led not only to a blaze but also to the death of one person. Infrastructure at the oil terminal in the port of Tuapse — which, together with the refinery, forms a single production complex — was also damaged. In particular, a tank farm storing petroleum products caught fire. The fire from the April 20 strike was fully extinguished only after four days. Damage to storage tanks caused an oil spill that reached the sea. Within a week, the oil slick spread for 77 km along the coastline. Authorities in Krasnodar Krai reported that about 4,200 cubic meters of contaminated soil and oil-water mixture had been collected.
At the same time, smoke from the fire at the Tuapse oil terminal spread across nearly the entire Russian Black Sea coast, including Sochi and Anapa, and even reached Stavropol and Armavir.
Environmentalists described the incident as the “largest environmental disaster” along Russia’s entire Black Sea coast, pointed to the risk of acid rain, and noted that the negative impact on the local environment would persist for several years. Despite this, President Vladimir Putin has not commented on the emergency situation in Tuapse. State television channels have also ignored the environmental disaster.
