Fire has engulfed a Russian oil depot near the Black Sea resort of Sochi after it was attacked by Ukrainian drones. Krasnodar region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said drone debris hit a fuel tank and 127 firefighters were on Sunday tackling the blaze. Kyiv has repeatedly pounded infrastructure in Russia.
SOCHI AUGUST 4: Fire has engulfed a Russian oil depot near the Black Sea resort of Sochi after it was attacked by Ukrainian drones. It was one of several such strikes in recent days targeting infrastructure across southern Russia.
Krasnodar region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said drone debris hit a fuel tank and 127 firefighters were on Sunday tackling the blaze, which was later put out. Russia’s civil aviation authority temporarily halted flights at Sochi airport.
Drone wreckage hit an “oil tank, which caused a fire”, Kondratyev said on the Telegram messaging app. Sochi, which hosted the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, is about 250 miles (400km) from the Ukrainian border.
Kyiv has repeatedly pounded infrastructure in Russia that it sees as key to Moscow’s war effort but attacks on Sochi have been relatively rare.
The Russian defense ministry said in its daily morning report on Telegram that its air defense units destroyed 93 Ukrainian drones overnight, including one over the Krasnodar region and 60 over the waters of the Black Sea.
The Krasnodar region is home to the Ilsky refinery near the city of Krasnodar, among the largest in southern Russia and a frequent target of Ukraine’s drone attacks.
