Ukrainian drones have hit a Russian refinery in the city of Tuapse, by the Black Sea, for the third time this month. The first two attacks caused an oil leak and black rain over the city. This Tuesday’s attack has forced Vladimir Putin to take control of the situation, sending the Minister of Emergency Situations to the area.
“Another serious incident has occurred in Tuapse. A large-scale fire has been declared at an oil refinery due to an enemy drone attack,” Veniamin Kondratiev, the governor of the Krasnodar region, announced on his Telegram channel.
Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, assured that the necessary measures are already being taken. Specifically, he reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Minister of Emergency Situations, Alexander Kurenkov, to travel to Tuapse.
“Putin listened to the report from Emergency Minister Kurenkov by phone.” Then “he ordered Kurenkov to go to Tuapse in the coming hours to monitor the progress of firefighting efforts at the oil depots, as well as the elimination of the consequences,” Peskov said.
The Tuapse refinery processes about twelve million tons of crude oil annually and serves as an export platform for petroleum products.
Ukraine targets oil infrastructure to reduce Russia’s revenues
Peskov accused Ukraine of “increasing the destabilization of international energy markets” with its attacks on Russian oil depots. He assured that Kyiv “is aggravating the oil deficit in the markets, which are already experiencing significant difficulties due to the situation in the Strait of Hormuz” because of the war between the United States and Israel against Iran.
Russia’s facilities related to oil production, transport, and sale are part of the list of targets for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which are trying to deprive Moscow of the revenues it receives from exports.
These revenues form a substantial part of Russia’s budgets and are, therefore, fundamental for financing the war in Ukraine, which broke out more than four years ago, when Putin sent his army against the neighboring country in February 2022.
Since that date, Russia has regularly bombed the entire Ukrainian territory, especially its energy infrastructure. Both sides claim that their attacks are directed against military targets or against facilities used by the enemy for military purposes.
In March, Ukrainian drone forces directed the bulk of their attacks against the Baltic ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk, in the Leningrad region, important centers for Russian crude oil export.
Fires, black rain, and crude oil spill
This Tuesday marked the third time since early April that Ukrainian drones have hit the Rosneft refinery in Tuapse. “Towards the sea, the sky was clear. Looking north, towards Tuapse and inland, towards the mountains… it was all black clouds,” explained a resident to the digital newspaper Gazeta.ru.
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Sergei Boiko, head of the Tuapse district, has told local media that evacuation measures have been organized for residents of buildings near the refinery. Authorities have set up a school to serve as a temporary shelter.
The April 16 attack caused a fire that took several days to contain and an oil spill in the Tuapse River.
Smoke from the fire caused black rain (contaminated with oil) over the city, and its inhabitants expressed concern about the deterioration of health and environmental safety. Air levels of xylene and benzene (petroleum-derived hydrocarbons) exceed the norm by two to three times.
Three civilians dead in Belgorod (Russia) and one in Kryvyi Rih (Ukraine)
Furthermore, an ecological catastrophe is feared. The oil spill worsened after a second attack on the 20th, and after heavy rains on the 24th. These raised the river’s water level, and the barriers placed to contain the spill could not withstand the pressure. Some of the petroleum products have reached the sea. Cleanup efforts continue this week.
According to operational center data, over 3,000 cubic meters of contaminated soil had been collected by Sunday. Special points have also been set up where volunteers can go to help remove fuel from birds and animals affected by the spill.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has reported that on Monday night into Tuesday, its anti-aircraft systems managed to intercept 186 Ukrainian drones in several regions.
In one of them, Belgorod, Ukrainian attacks caused “the death of three civilians,” according to the governor of that region bordering Ukraine, Vyacheslav Gladkov.
On the Ukrainian side, a Russian attack killed a 40-year-old man and injured five others in the city of Kryvyi Rih (central Ukraine), according to data published by the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region’s military administration, Oleksandr Hanzha.
Russia attacked Ukraine last night with 123 drones, 95 of which were shot down, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
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