Russia claims drones targeted oil refinery near Black Sea

Russia’s Krasnodar regional authorities claimed an overnight attempted drone attack on the Ilsky Oil Refinery. According to the report, the attack caused a fire at the oil refinery.

“Several unmanned aerial vehicles tried to approach the Ilsky Oil Refinery site in the Krasnodar Krai,” the regional emergency service said on May 28, claiming all drones were downed.

Shot, a Kremlin-affiliated Telegram news channel, reported the debris had damaged the diesel fuel production unit “without causing a fire.”

No casualties were reported.

The Ilsky Oil Refinery, located some 55 kilometers northeast of the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, has a processing capacity of around 6.6 million metric tonnes per year.

The site has reportedly been targeted at least two times in early May.

The port of Novorossiysk was the headquarters for the Russian Black Sea fleet until the Crimea occupation in 2014. Since then, Russia has transferred the headquarters to the occupied port city of Sevastopol.

There have been an increasing number of reports about attacks on railway networks and oil refineries within Russian territory in recent weeks.

The drone attacks were also reported in several Russian regions on May 27, including the oil unit of the Druzhba pipeline refinery in Russia’s Tver region.

So far, nobody has stepped forward to claim responsibility for these attacks.