Authorities in the southern port town of Tuapse on Tuesday ordered an evacuation of residents in areas near a Rosneft oil refinery after Ukraine attacked and set fire to the facility for a third time this month.
“Another serious incident has occurred in Tuapse. A large-scale fire broke out at an oil refinery due to an enemy drone attack,” Krasnodar region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram.
Kondratyev said more than 160 emergency responders were deployed to battle the blaze. He said residents who were forced to leave their homes due to health and safety risks would be provided temporary shelter at a local school.
NASA satellite imagery showed black smoke above Tuapse early Tuesday. In a video shot around 100 kilometers (63 miles) away at the Krasnaya Polyana ski resort outside Sochi, a large plume of smoke could be seen rising high into the atmosphere.
In separate Ukrainian attacks on the southwestern Belgorod region, at least three people were killed, local authorities said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted 186 Ukrainian drones between Monday night and Tuesday morning. The drones were downed in several Russian regions, including Krasnodar, as well as annexed Crimea and in the skies above the Black Sea.
Tuesday’s attack on Tuapse marks the third time the Rosneft refinery has been targeted since the beginning of April. Industry sources told Reuters that operations at the plant have been halted since an April 16 attack.
The facility processes around 12 million metric tons of crude annually and serves as a key export route for naphtha, fuel oil and diesel.
Strikes on Tuapse last week resulted in an oil spill and a fire that took several days to contain. Residents have voiced concerns about deteriorating health and environmental safety in the area after black smoke from that fire caused toxic rain to fall on the town.
A journalist from the independent news outlet Kedr was reportedly detained by police in Tuapse on Tuesday while reporting on pollution caused by repeated drone strikes on the town’s oil refinery.
Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on Russian oil infrastructure over the past two months in a bid to deprive the Kremlin of energy windfalls amid the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The latest attack on Tuapse comes at a fragile moment for the global energy market, as oil prices tick back toward last month’s highs due to a lack of progress in peace talks between the United States and Iran.
June Brent crude contracts were trading above $111 per barrel on Tuesday morning.
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