Category
Latest news

Drone Strike Ignites Russia’s Biggest Black Sea Oil Terminal and Tanker in Tuapse

2 min read
Authors
Photo of Ivan Khomenko
Ivan Khomenko
News Writer
A massive explosion lights up the night sky over Tuapse, Russia, following a drone strike on port infrastructure, November 2, 2025. (Photo: Open source)
A massive explosion lights up the night sky over Tuapse, Russia, following a drone strike on port infrastructure, November 2, 2025. (Photo: Open source)

Russian officials confirmed damage to fuel export facilities in Krasnodar region as part of overnight UAV attacks across multiple regions.

A series of drone attacks targeted Russia’s energy and transport infrastructure overnight on November 2, damaging an oil tanker and port facilities in the Black Sea port city of Tuapse, according to Russian regional authorities and multiple Telegram channels. These claims cannot be independently verified.

According to the Operational Headquarters of Krasnodar region, fragments from unmanned aerial vehicles caused a fire in the port of Tuapse and damaged both a docked tanker and buildings belonging to an oil-loading terminal.

The ship’s superstructure was hit, and the crew was reportedly evacuated. Fires also broke out at the terminal, which is operated by RN-Morskoy Terminal Tuapse—a subsidiary of Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil company.

Russian Telegram channel ASTRA reported that the drone strike targeted the deep-water loading terminal used to export refined petroleum products from the nearby Tuapse Oil Refinery. The terminal, commonly referred to as the “oil pier,” is a critical part of the refinery’s export chain.

Damage was also reported to the town’s rail station, where windows were shattered, and a residential building in the Sosnovyi settlement, where debris from a drone hit the third floor, according to Krasnodar authorities. These figures could not be independently verified.

Update: Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed that Defense Forces struck the RN-Tuapse oil refinery infrastructure in Russia’s Krasnodar region overnight on November 1. According to the statement, the attack targeted the oil loading facilities of the federally significant maritime port in Tuapse Bay, a key hub for Russian petroleum exports on the Black Sea. The strike is part of Ukraine’s continued effort to degrade Russia’s military-economic capacity.

Earlier, Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s fourth-largest oil refinery in Ryazan, forcing the shutdown of its main crude distillation unit after a fire broke out. The CDU-4 unit, along with several related processing facilities, was temporarily halted, disrupting fuel production.

See all