Ukrainian drones hit Russian port of Tuapse for the fourth time

A fresh Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s Black Sea port of Tuapse, the fourth in the past week, sparked a fire at the sea terminal but caused no injuries, local officials said early on Friday.

Tuapse has come under repeated attack, particularly the Black Sea port's oil terminal.

The strikes have disrupted daily life, with authorities telling residents not to drink water and closing schools.

"In Tuapse, as a result of a drone attack by the Kyiv regime, a fire broke out on the territory of the seaport terminal," the General Headquarters in the Krasnodar Region said on Telegram.

The report said emergency crews were working at the site, with 128 firefighters and 41 emergency vehicles drafted in to tackle the blaze.

STATE OF EMERGENCY

The area has been subject to a state of emergency since Tuesday, when an attack sparked a huge fire at the refinery, cutting off production and releasing slicks of oil into the waters off the coast.

The blaze from that strike was extinguished as of Thursday morning, the local governor said.

But Tuapse's oil-splattered beaches and polluted air and waterways show how painful the fallout can be from Ukraine's escalating attacks on Russian energy facilities.

Emergency workers were deployed on Thursday to clear five newly discovered oil-hit parts of the coast, officials said. Overall, they have mopped up 12,600 cubic metres of contaminated material in Tuapse, it said.

The consumer safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor advised residents after the attack to limit time outdoors and keep windows closed due to the elevated benzene levels in the air.

On Thursday, the local health authority said residents should only consume bottled water and avoid drinking from taps and natural springs as a precautionary measure. May holiday celebrations were cancelled.

The measures have prompted some residents to express concern online and question assurances from the authorities that the situation is in hand.

"How about she comes to visit us and tries our fresh air?" one person commented on Wednesday on a video clip of Rospotrebnadzor head Anna Popova saying the situation in Tuapse posed no health risks.

"Everything is safe and under control!" another person wrote on a post about the cancellation of all large-scale outdoor events.

Ukrainian drones also struck an oil refinery near Russia's Perm city on Thursday, a second consecutive attack on oil facilities in that area in the Ural mountains.

Ukraine's military said it had also struck a refinery in the southern Russian region of Orenburg. Both of those attacks took place some 1,500 km (900 miles) from Ukraine.

Kyiv has intensified pressure inside Russia in recent weeks, aiming to knock out oil refineries, depots and ports and cripple Moscow's biggest source of funding for its war in Ukraine, as global prices have risen due to the Iran war.

For its part, Ukraine says Russian forces have attacked Ukrainian energy sites for many months, causing large numbers of casualties and knocking out power and heating for many thousands of residents during the winter months.