The Russian seaport was hit (Image: East2West)
A major Russian seaport turned into a vision from hell today (Monday) after devastating strikes from Ukrainian drones. A blazing inferno broke out again at the giant oil complex at Tuapse on the Black Sea just hours after flames were extinguished from an earlier strike.
The Ukrainian drone swarm triggered loud explosions, leaving an apocalyptic scene of volcanic destruction at the port in the latest major reversal of fortunes in the war for Vladimir Putin in the past month. All school and most kindergarten classes were cancelled today in Tuapse as black smoke from the local Rosneft-owned oil refinery choked the resort town.
The key storage tanks at the Putin export hub appeared to have been destroyed. One man was reported killed in the ferocious attack.
Read more: Russia burning as Ukraine ‘drone swarm’ rains hell in apocalyptic strike
Read more: Starmer ‘knew about Mandelson security red flags before appointment’
Putin will be furious his oil refinery has been attacked (Image: Getty)
Russian machine guns attempted to thwart the incoming drones, but this is the latest in a succession of Ukrainian strikes on key infrastructure showing that Putin’s forces are running low on air defences.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian military intelligence today confirmed weekend strikes by drone on Russian warships in Sevastopol port, headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet.
Footage showed the attacks. One target was the 369ft-long large landing ship Yamal, worth around £64 million. Another was the 371-ft Soviet-era Nikolay Filchenkov, which can carry 20 tanks and 300–425 troops, worth £56 million.
Both vessels were hit and damaged, according to the GUR military intelligence directorate.
“Both ships, which Russia used in the criminal war against Ukraine, have been put out of action,” said a statement.
A £4million Russian Podlet-K1 radar station was also put out of action. Russia hit back with strikes on Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk.
A woman looks out from the rubble after a Russian drone strike in Chernihiv (Image: Getty)
On Sunday Russian strikes killed at least two people in Ukraine, officials said.
A massive nighttime drone strike on Chernihiv in northern Ukraine killed a 16-year-old boy and wounded four others, according to the head of the city’s military administration.
Rescuers found the teenager’s body as they cleared away rubble, Dmytro Bryzhynskyi reported on Telegram on Sunday morning. He said the drone strike also wounded three women and one man. Several houses were set on fire, he added.
Russian drones also attacked the southern city of Kherson on Sunday, local officials reported.
A man died of his wounds after a drone hit a van driving through the city center, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the regional administration. A second man was hospitalized with blast injuries, regional authorities said.
Russia launched 236 drones into Ukrainian territory overnight into Sunday, Ukraine’s air force reported. Of those, 203 drones were shot down while 32 hit targets in 18 separate locations, it said.