Regional state of emergency declared in Russia’s Tuapse following fire on oil refinery

A regional state of emergency was declared Tuesday in the Russian port city of Tuapse after a drone attack caused a massive fire at an oil refinery near the Black Sea.

The Krasnodar regional operational headquarters said on Telegram that 220 people are currently working to extinguish the fire at the facility, with 50 pieces of equipment deployed.

“There are 31 people at the evacuation point, including nine children,” it said in the statement. “If the situation requires it, residents of houses located near the oil refinery will be accommodated in a hotel.”

The strike is the latest in a series of drone strikes targeting the oil refinery and the port of Tuapse, located on the Black Sea coast, over the past weeks.

Last week, the Krasnodar region’s operational headquarters detected an oil spill caused by an April 16 drone attack.

Ukraine’s General Staff has regularly announced conducting strikes targeting the Tuapse oil refinery, including on April 16, and most recently on Monday.

Regarding the Tuesday attack, the General Staff said it had carried out a second strike on the Tuapse oil refinery “as part of reducing the military-economic potential” of Russia.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed air defenses shot down 186 Ukrainian drones over five regions, including Krasnodar, as well as the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.