The Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense carried out an operation in which Ukrainian drones attacked an oil refinery in Tuapse, the Krasnodar region, on Monday, July 22, causing a fire at the facility, HUR sources told Kyiv Post.
This major fuel and lubricant processing facility is Russia’s main oil terminal on the Black Sea. In pre-war years, it produced two million tons of product annually, almost all for export.
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The Krasnodar region’s operational headquarters reported that “as a result of the fall of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) debris, the infrastructure of the oil refinery in Tuapse was damaged.”
“Specialists are extinguishing the fire on an area of 50 square meters. Thirty-one units of equipment and 91 people are working on the spot,” the message read.
As per the report, the fire was localized and the open flames extinguished. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties.
However, the Russian Ostrozhno, Novosti Telegram channel released a video of the attack on the refinery. It showcased the flight of a drone, sounds of gunshots (presumably from small arms), and the drone hitting its target, followed by a fire.
Kyiv Post could not independently verify the place and time of the footage.
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, July 21, 2024
Sources within HUR told Kyiv Post that the drone was recorded in the sky over Tuapse around 3:30 a.m. local time. According to local Telegram channels, during the first wave of the attack, Russian air defenses tried to shoot down four kamikaze drones.
Around 6:25 a.m., at least two more powerful explosions were heard in the area of the oil refinery, after which a fire started on the facility’s territory.
In total, at least eight drones reportedly attacked the refinery.
Russia Today, a Russian state media outlet, reported that the impact damaged the infrastructure of the oil refinery. However, sources told Kyiv Post that the extent of the damage to the Russian military-industrial complex facilities is currently being assessed.
The Tuapse oil refinery is the only production complex with a marine terminal belonging to Rosneft's oil product supply enterprise, LLC “RN-Marine Terminal Tuapse.” About 90% of the company's products are exported. The plant is part of the Rosneft oil company, with a capacity of about 12 million tons per year.
The Russian Ministry of Defense already claimed that air defenses shot down 75 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory and the Black and Azov seas during the night.
According to the Russian ministry, 47 drones were allegedly intercepted and destroyed over the Rostov region, eight over the Krasnodar region, and one each over the Belgorod, Voronezh, and Smolensk regions.
Another 17 UAVs were reportedly shot down over the waters of the Black and Azov seas.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not report any consequences of the attack and the downing of the drones.
The Ostrozhno, Novosti Telegram channel also reported that the city of Morozovsk, near which a military airfield is located, was hit by drones in the Rostov region. The governor of the region, Vasiliy Golubev, said that the drones were shot down, and as a result of falling debris, “dry vegetation” caught fire.
In mid-May, the Russian Defense Ministry announced a massive overnight drone attack on Russian regions, claiming that “more than 100 Ukrainian drones” were intercepted in the south of the country, over occupied Crimea, and the Black Sea. In Tuapse, a fire broke out at a local oil refinery ignited by a Ukrainian drone attack.
Local authorities confirmed the drone attack on the refinery, where as a result of the fall of one of the two UAVs, “an explosion occurred on the territory of the refinery.”
Before this attack, explosions rocked Russia’s largest oil refinery on the Black Sea late evening on January 24, in a Ukrainian drone strike orchestrated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
Multiple still images and videos showed the fire at the Tuapse oil refinery operated by the Russian oil company Rosneft.
An SBU source confirmed to Kyiv Post that it was responsible: “An oil refinery in Tuapse, Russia, has become another target of the SBU. After two powerful explosions, a large-scale fire broke out. The primary oil processing unit, specifically the vacuum and atmospheric columns, was damaged.”
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