A Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s Tuapse oil terminal has caused an oil spill stretching several kilometers into the Black Sea, according to a BBC analysis of NASA satellite images taken after the Nov. 2 attack.
The slick extended about 3.6 kilometers from the terminal into the Black Sea, the outlet reported.
The Tuapse terminal, located about eight kilometers from the Black Sea port of Tuapse, handles exports of petroleum products from the local refinery and Rosneft’s Samara group of refineries.
Exports through the facility totaled 7.1 million tons between January and September, Reuters reported.
Authorities in Russia’s Krasnodar region confirmed that the strike damaged parts of the terminal’s infrastructure as well as two foreign-flagged vessels.
It is the latest in a series of oil spills in the Black Sea in recent months.
In December 2024, the sinking of two tankers in the Kerch Strait released at least 4,000 tons of fuel oil, triggering what Russian officials described as an environmental disaster.
The spill caused mass die-offs of birds and marine life and polluted coastlines in annexed Crimea, southern Russia’s Krasnodar region, Ukraine’s Odesa region and the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia.
Cleanup operations from that incident are still ongoing.
Environment Minister Alexander Kozlov has said the work should be completed by May 2026, but environmental experts have questioned that timeline.
Sergei Ostakh of the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation estimated full recovery would take at least three years, while Public Chamber ecology commission member Vladimir Lifantyev warned it could take five to 10 years.
Russia’s environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor acknowledged this summer that it would be impossible to clean up all of the spilled fuel.
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