Ukraine's drone strike reportedly sparks fire at oil depot in Russia’s Sochi
Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect to additional details about reported fuel shortages at Sochi Airport.
A drone attack caused a major fire at an oil depot in Russia’s resort city of Sochi early on Aug. 3, according to local authorities.
More than 120 firefighters were deployed to battle the blaze, which engulfed a fuel tank in the Adler district, regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on his Telegram channel.
The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify the reports, and Ukrainian officials have not yet commented.
A 2,000-cubic-meter (approximately 70,000-cubic-foot) fuel tank was on fire, Russia’s state-owned RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency officials in the Krasnodar region, where Sochi is located. Russia’s civil aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, said flights at Sochi Airport were suspended "to ensure air safety."
Russian Telegram channel Crimean Wind reported that Sochi Airport imposed fuel restrictions due to the attack on the oil reservoir, forcing some flights departing from Sochi Airport to make additional landings at alternate airfields to refuel.
The drone strike is a part of Ukraine's continued campaign to target Russian energy infrastructure seen as critical to Moscow’s war effort. Sochi, which hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics, has rarely been targeted during the war, though a previous Ukrainian drone attack in the Adler district late last month reportedly killed a woman, according to Russian authorities.
The broader Krasnodar region is home to key refineries, including the Ilsky plant, one of the largest in southern Russia and a repeated target of Ukrainian drone strikes.
Meanwhile, the governor of Russia’s Voronezh region claimed that another Ukrainian drone strike injured a woman and caused multiple fires on Aug. 4. At the same time, Ukraine’s military administration reported that Russia carried out another missile strike on Kyiv.
