On the night of May 17, the city of Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar Territory was attacked by unknown drones. Locals write that drones attacked the port and the oil depot.
Russian Telegram channels estimated that more than 20 explosions rang out in the city, and reported on the alleged work of air defense. Locals also saw drones and a fire in the port. Novorossiysk has the Novorossiysk fuel oil terminal and the “Transnafta” terminal.
The governor of the Krasnodar region Veniamin Kondratiev informed about the "unsuccessful Ukrainian attack", saying that Russian air defense shot down more than 10 unmanned aerial vehicles, and the fires were caused by falling debris.
Meanwhile, in the Russian city of Tuapse, a fire broke out at an oil refinery after a nighttime drone attack. The authorities of the region wrote that two drones were aimed at the refinery, and as a result of their alleged fall, a fire broke out at the refinery.
One of Russiaʼs largest oil refineries, Rosneft, is located in Tuapse. It was already attacked by drones on January 25, and it resumed work only at the beginning of May.
Attacks on Russian refineries
This spring, Ukraine began to actively attack Russian refineries. In March, an oil refinery in the Russian city of Ryazan caught fire after a drone attack, drones attacked a refinery in the Nizhny Novgorod region and an oil depot in Oryol, an oil refinery in the Krasnodar region. Meanwhile, the “Lukoil” refinery in the Nizhny Novgorod region lost part of its capacity due to the attack, and the refinery in Sloviansk-on-Kuban partially stopped work.
At the end of March, a sharp decrease in gasoline production was recorded in Russia — by 7.4%, to 754.6 thousand tons. Politico wrote that drone attacks on Russian oil refineries led to the fact that one of the worldʼs largest oil powers ran out of gasoline.
On April 10, the head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin advised Ukraine not to attack Russian refineries, but to "focus on military objectives." The Washington Post wrote that Ukraineʼs strikes on Russian refineries deepen tensions in relations with the United States. While the United States dissuades Kyiv from attacks on oil refineries of the Russian Federation due to fears of rising world prices, Ukraine considers them necessary to increase the cost of aggression for the Russian Federation.