This was at least the fifth attack on the facility this spring.
Overnight into May 27, residents of Tuapse reported explosions. Footage of the attack captured by readers’ cameras was published by Astra.
OSINT analysis suggested the strike was again likely aimed at the refinery. It remains unclear whether the facility was damaged.
According to Astra, JSC RN-Tuapse Refinery and LLC RN-Marine Terminal Tuapse operate as a single production complex and are owned by Rosneft.
On May 5, Ukraine’s General Staff said Ukrainian strikes on the port infrastructure of Tuapse and the Tuapse refinery had caused Russia more than $300 million in damage.
Overnight into May 1, Russian Telegram channels and the operational headquarters of Russia’s Krasnodar Krai reported another series of explosions in Tuapse.
Later, the Security Service of Ukraine confirmed that, together with Ukraine’s military intelligence and Unmanned Systems Forces, it had again struck infrastructure at the Tuapse seaport and refinery. The attack triggered a fire in tanks containing fuel oil mixtures, sending a column of black smoke above the terminal.
It marked the fourth Ukrainian attack on the Tuapse port and refinery. Earlier strikes targeted refinery storage tanks overnight into April 16, April 20 and April 28. The first two attacks destroyed 24 tanks and damaged four others.
The marine oil terminal and Tuapse refinery are key facilities for processing and exporting Russian oil, as well as major logistics hubs. The Tuapse refinery is Russia’s only oil refinery on the Black Sea coast, with an annual processing capacity of about 12 million tons of oil.