Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.<\/p>\n
Ukraine’s military launched a drone attack on Russia’s Krasnodar Krai overnight on May 13, striking oil shipping infrastructure in the village of Volna, Russian Telegram media channels reported.<\/p>\n
Videos posted to social media show large plumes of smoke rising from a nearby port, various channels reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a separate post on Telegram, the Krasnodar Krai Operational Headquarters reported a fire in “one of the premises” in Volna, saying that one person was injured in the Ukrainian drone attack.<\/p>\n NASA’s fire monitoring system, FIRMS<\/a>, appeared to corroborate officials’ claims, with a fire reported at an oil storage facility near the port, specifically at a terminal called Tammanneftogaz, which transfers oil and gas from Russian pipelines onto tankers traveling through the Black Sea for export to global markets.<\/p>\n Ukraine’s military has not yet commented on the reported attack.<\/p>\n The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged a raft of overnight attacks<\/a>, but did not mention any specific sites. The ministry did, however, immediately switch<\/a> to celebrating the 243rd anniversary of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.<\/p>\n Read also: Ukraine war latest: Ukrainian drones strike Russian gas facility over 1,500 kilometers from border, Zelensky says<\/a><\/p>\n Ukrainian drones have increasingly targeted Russian oil and gas infrastructure in recent weeks, as part of a broader campaign to disrupt Moscow’s energy revenues, a key source of funding for the Kremlin’s war effort.<\/p>\n President Volodymyr Zelensky has at times referred to the strikes in characteristically tongue-in-cheek remarks.<\/p>\n Between mid-April and early May, Tuapse, a town in Krasnodar Krai and home to one of the largest oil refineries and export terminals on the Black Sea coast, had been systematically targeted by Ukrainian long-range drones.<\/p>\n Multi-day fires contributed to worsening air quality<\/a> and significant environmental pollution, emerging as a stark symbol of the Kremlin\u2019s limited control over its airspace ahead of Victory Day festivities.<\/p>\n The environmental fallout \u2014 including airborne petroleum byproducts<\/a> and oil spills on city streets \u2014 has made the once attractive tourist destination unsafe for visitors, though Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/a> has downplayed the threat to Tuapse.<\/p>\n According to data compiled by Bloomberg, Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil infrastructure reached<\/a> a four-month high in April, with at least 21 attacks on refineries, pipelines, and oil assets at sea recorded.<\/p>\n