Russian authorities are reporting another attack, the fourth in recent weeks, on oil infrastructure in Tuapse in Russia’s Krasnodar region.
According to the region’s operational headquarters, a drone attack in Tuapse on the night of 1 May resulted in a fire on the territory of a marine terminal.
“There are no casualties, special and emergency services are working on the site. A total of 128 people and 41 units of equipment, including from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, are involved in the elimination of the fire,” the report said.
The day before, the Russian service of Radio Liberty released new satellite images of the Tuapse oil refinery after a fire caused by Ukrainian attacks was extinguished there. The images show that four large fuel tanks and the surrounding infrastructure were completely destroyed, while two smaller tanks were also damaged.
The Tuapse oil refinery was hit by Ukrainian drones on 16, 20 and 28 April. The Ukrainian military confirmed the previous strikes. The Ukrainian side has not yet commented on the new attack.
Due to a multi-day fire at the refinery after the 20 April strike, oil leaked into the sea and “oil rain” fell several times in the city. After the 28 April attack, authorities in Tuapse imposed a regional emergency regime, with water outages in the city.
Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that another fire at the Tuapse oil refinery could have “environmental consequences,” but said there was “no serious threat.” Putin called the Ukrainian strike on the Tuapse refinery “terror.”
The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said the impact of the Ukrainian strikes on the Tuapse oil refinery was apparently so significant that it prompted a personal response from Putin. Analysts noted that the Kremlin does not usually respond to Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure.
“Ukraine is stepping up its strike campaign against Russian oil infrastructure as Russia tries to use the global energy crisis to increase profits from energy exports to finance the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian forces are likely to continue to use a larger area to strike deep behind Russian lines and overstretched Russian air defences to launch more frequent and larger-scale strikes against Russian oil infrastructure and military assets, supported by increased drone production in Ukraine,” the report said.
The Tuapse refinery is owned by Rosneft and is the only Russian refinery of this type on the Black Sea coast. The enterprise is of strategic importance for the Russian Federation: it is a key hub for supplying fuel to the Russian military grouping and the main terminal for exporting oil products across the Black Sea.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, various facilities on Russian territory have been subjected to air strikes. The AFU General Staff confirmed most of the attacks, saying that the Ukrainian Defence Forces were “systematically implementing measures aimed at reducing the combat potential of the Russian occupation forces and forcing the Russian Federation to stop its armed aggression against Ukraine”.