Ukrainian forces strike major oil depot near Novorossiysk

Ukraine’s General Staff reported that overnight drones hit the Grushovaya oil depot near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai, causing a fire at the facility. The depot is part of the Sheskharis oil transshipment complex, which receives, stores and transfers crude oil and petroleum products for export through the port.

Open-source monitoring channels posted video footage showing thick smoke rising from the site, and officials said the extent of the damage was still being assessed. The complex, operated by Chernomortransneft, a subsidiary of Transneft, is the largest oil storage terminal in the Caucasus region and can handle up to 75 million tonnes of oil and products annually, processing roughly 700,000 barrels per day under normal conditions.

"The extent of the damage is being clarified," the General Staff said in a Telegram statement.

In the same wave of attacks, Ukrainian forces also targeted the Krasny Yar oil pumping and dispatch station in Volgograd region, a radar site near Kabardinka in Krasnodar Krai, and drone command posts in occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Kursk regions. The strikes follow earlier attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, including the Ilsky refinery and the Ust-Labinsk depot, which Ukrainian officials say aim to disrupt fuel supplies and export revenues supporting Moscow’s war effort.