Ukrainian drones struck the Tuapse oil refinery in Russia's Krasnodar Krai overnight on March 14, setting fire to a gasoline storage tank, regional Governor Veniamin Kondratiev said.
"The area of the fire is more than 1,000 square meters, and emergency services are working," Kondratiev wrote on Telegram, claiming there were no casualties.
Russian pro-government media outlet Mash reported that the fire was caused by debris from a downed drone. Eyewitnesses reportedly heard a series explosions over several minutes.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims. Kyiv has not commented on the attack.
The Tuapse oil refinery, with an annual processing capacity of 12 million tons, plays a key role in supplying fuel to the Russian military. Following an earlier strike, the facility underwent an emergency shutdown in May.
Kyiv has intensified attacks on Russian fossil fuel infrastructure, seeking to disrupt revenue streams that fund Moscow's war effort.
Ukrainian forces regularly conduct long-range drone strikes on military and industrial targets inside Russia.
Earlier this week, 74 drones were shot down on approach to Moscow in the early hours of March 11, authorities claimed, marking the largest drone attack against Russia's capital during the full-scale war.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed its forces had intercepted a massive strike of 337 Ukrainian drones across multiple regions, including 91 over Moscow Oblast, 126 over Kursk Oblast, 38 over Bryansk Oblast, and others over the Belgorod, Ryazan, Kaluga, Lipetsk, Oryol, Voronezh, and Nizhny Novgorod regions.
This is the largest number of drones launched against Russia in a single attack during the entire full-scale war.
The strike took place as Ukrainian and U.S. delegations were about to meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss possible peace terms with Russia.
Lucy Pakhnyuk
