A Ukrainian drone attack has caused another major fire at the Russian oil refinery in the city of Tuapse – the third attack on the Black Sea port in less than two weeks. Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, condemned it as a “strike against civilian infrastructure” but Kyiv says the campaign is designed to disrupt Russia’s oil industry and slash revenues that help Moscow fund the war – making such facilities a legitimate target in war. In this strike, dense black smoke again rose from the direction of the Tuapse refinery, which has annual production capacity of about 12m tonnes.
The refinery halted production on 16 April because of drone damage to the port that made it impossible to ship its production, industry sources told Reuters. The head of the Tuapse district, Sergei Boyko, on Tuesday ordered people living near the refinery to evacuate by bus to a local school. After an attack on 20 April, black rain fell on the town and a popular beach resort, leaving an oily residue. Putin has sent an emergencies minister to Tuapse.