03-08-2025
Ukraine drone attack sparks fire in Russian resort city
Ukrainian drone attacks sparked a massive oil depot fire near Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russian authorities have said.
Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of the Krasnodar region, said that drone debris had sparked a fire after hitting a fuel tank, adding that 127 firefighters were working on the scene.
Emergency officials reported that a fuel tank with a capacity of 2,000 cubic metres had caught fire in the coastal city, with footage showing pillars of smoke billowing from the facility.
Rosaviatsia, Russia's civil aviation authority, announced that flights had been halted at Sochi airport in response to the attack.
The Russian defence ministry said that its air defences had intercepted 93 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 60 over the Black Sea region.
Sochi, which hosted the 2014 Olympic Winter Games and was previously home to a dacha owned by Vladimir Putin, has rarely been targeted over the course of the war.
Andrey Prushunin, the mayor of Sochi, wrote on Telegram that 'a fuel tank caught fire at an oil depot' in the Adlersky city district of Sochi, adding: 'I express my gratitude to the air defence services for their professionalism.'
The attack on the Sochi refinery was one of a spate launched by Ukraine over the weekend.
On Saturday, Ukraine's military announced that it had struck facilities inside Russia, including an oil refinery in Ryazan and an oil storage facility in Voronezh.
