Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Explosions were reported overnight on April 6 in the southern Russian port city of Novorossiysk, with local residents reporting a drone attack at an oil terminal and damage to a residential building.
The Sheskharis oil terminal was struck by drones, independent Russian Telegram news channel Astra reported, citing an open-source analysis of eyewitness footage.
The site is a major oil export terminal that serves as the endpoint for pipelines run by Russia’s state-run Transneft, the world’s largest oil pipeline company.
The most intense burning is taking place at the terminals’ first pier, and the site’s second pier was also struck, independent outlet Exilenova Plus reported.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition nodes, which function as computer control hardware for the site, were also hit.
The Sheskharis oil terminal will be unable to continue shipments as a result of the damaged infrastructure, the outlet reported.
City authorities said drone debris struck an apartment building in the city’s Yuzhny (south) district, and emergency services were dispatched to the scene.
Fires were also reported in another district of the Black Sea coastal city, according to Astra.
Other cities in the region, including Anapa, Gelendzhik, and Sochi, were on high alert, Krasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said, adding that eight people were injured in Novorossiysk.
The city has become a key base for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet after many ships were relocated following repeated Ukrainian strikes on occupied Crimea.
Novorossiysk’s port is also an important military and logistics hub for Russia.
Ukraine regularly strikes military infrastructure deep within Russia and occupied territories in an effort to diminish Moscow’s capacity to continue waging war on Ukraine.
Ukraine previously struck the Sheskharis oil terminal on March 2, damaging infrastructure at the port, as well as military ships and air defense assets, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told the Kyiv Independent.
Six of the seven oil-filling loading arms at the Sheskharis terminal were damaged in the March 2 attack alongside strikes on Russian military assets in and around the port.
Kyiv considers oil facilities to be valid military targets as they directly fund Russia’s war.