Explosions were reported in Rostov-on-Don and the nearby city of Bataysk in Russia’s Rostov Region early on Dec. 18, with an oil tanker likely hit during the attack.
Russian media reported that around 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 17, residents began reporting explosions in both cities.
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Local Telegram channels published photos and videos showing blasts and Russian air defense systems in action. Some residents said power outages were recorded in uninhabited areas of the region.
Rostov Region Governor Yuri Slyusar said Ukrainian drones attacked the port of Rostov-on-Don, setting a cargo vessel on fire.
“Two crew members were killed and three others were injured. The fire was extinguished over an area of 20 square meters [215 square feet],” he wrote on Telegram.
Rostov Mayor Alexander Skryabin later clarified that the vessel hit was an oil tanker and that an oil spill had been avoided.
According to the Telegram channel Exilenova+, the tanker was identified as Valery Gorchakov, originally built in 1969 as a dry cargo ship and converted into an oil tanker in 2004 under Project 156ST/5009 to transport petroleum products.
Two multi-story residential buildings in western Rostov-on-Don were also damaged. A fire broke out on the 5th floor of one building but was quickly extinguished, with no injuries reported. Astra reported that the damaged building was located about 400 meters (1,312 feet) from the city’s interior ninistry office.
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Bataysk, located about 15 kilometers (9 miles) southeast of Rostov-on-Don, was also hit. Slyusar said two private houses caught fire and seven people were injured. Astra reported that one of the damaged houses was located 160 meters (525 feet) from an electrical substation.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russia’s oil and energy infrastructure, including river and sea ports used to export oil and petroleum products.
Russia’s defense ministry claimed that 47 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones were “intercepted and destroyed” overnight, including 31 over the Bryansk region and three over the Rostov region. Ukraine has not commented on the reported attacks.
Ukrainian drones struck several targets across southern Russia early Wednesday, Dec. 17, including an oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai.
A fire later broke out on the grounds of the Slavyansk Oil Refinery. The facility, owned by Slavyansk ECO and capable of processing 5.2 million tons of oil annually, has been hit multiple times this year.
Ukraine’s General Staff later confirmed that “means of deep strike” were used to hit infrastructure at the Slavyansky oil refinery, reporting explosions and a fire at the site.
The military also confirmed strikes on the Nikolaevskaya oil depot in Russia’s Rostov region, where a fuel storage tank and a river vessel were reportedly damaged, as well as a field artillery depot of Russia’s 101st Separate Logistics Brigade in the occupied Luhansk region.
Additional overnight drone strikes were reported in Russia’s Saratov region and near the port city of Yeysk in Krasnodar Krai.
The General Staff also said that a Ukrainian drone strike on Dec. 14 disabled all 14 wells at the R. Graifer offshore drilling platform in the Caspian Sea.