SBU confirms Russian ships, air defense, oil infrastructure hit in mass strike on Novorossiysk port
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Ukraine has struck a major oil terminal in the Russian city of Novorossiysk overnight on March 2, damaging infrastructure at the port, as well as military ships and air defense assets, a source in Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told the Kyiv Independent.
The Sheskharis oil terminal in the Port of Novorossiysk was struck, according to an analysis of eyewitness footage conducted by the outlet.
The mass Ukrainian drone strike was carried out together with Ukraine's Border Guard Service, military intelligence (HUR) Unmanned Systems Forces, and Special Operations Forces.
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.
Six of the seven oil-filling loading arms at the Sheskharis terminal were damaged in the attack.
According to the SBU source, part of the attack included strikes on Russian military assets in and around the port, with several military ships, one Pantsir-S2 air defense system and an S-300 air defense radar also hit.
Four residential buildings were reported damaged in the attack, Novorossiysk Mayor Andrey Kravchenko said, not mentioning the oil terminal.
"At the moment, damage is known to have occurred to two more apartment buildings and five houses. Fires broke out at two addresses and are being extinguished," Kravchenko later said.
Three people were injured in the drone attack, the Krasnodar Krai Operational Headquarters reported.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims at the time of publication.
Ukraine regularly strikes military infrastructure deep within Russia and occupied territories in an effort to diminish Moscow's fighting power as the Kremlin wages its war against Ukraine.
Ukrainian drones previously had struck the Novorossiysk oil terminal on Nov. 14 last year, sparking a large fire, the SBU told the Kyiv Independent at the time, following initial media reports and claims by local authorities.
Kyiv considers oil facilities to be valid military targets as they directly fund Russia's war.
Overnight on Feb. 27, Ukraine reportedly launched strikes, hitting a thermal power station in Belgorod Oblast and an oil depot in occupied Luhansk, according to Russian officials and eyewitness footage posted to social media.
