Novorossiysk Fuel Oil Terminal (NMT) in the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, Russia. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
A fire broke out at an oil depot in the southern Russian port of Novorossiysk following a Ukrainian drone attack, the city’s mayor said on Saturday (May 23, 2026).
“As a result of falling UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) debris, a fire broke out at the oil depot. Several technical and administrative buildings caught fire. Fragments of the drones also fell onto the fuel terminal site,” Mayor Andrey Kravchenko wrote on Telegram.
Two people were wounded, he added.
Novorossiysk handles around a fifth of Russia’s crude oil shipments and is the country’s largest export hub on the Black Sea.
Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences had intercepted 348 drones in total from Ukraine overnight.
In response to daily bombardments since Russia invaded in 2022, Ukraine has regularly struck within Russian territory.
Kyiv frequently carries out long-range strikes that it says target energy facilities in a bid to dent Russia’s oil revenues.
Published – May 23, 2026 12:11 pm IST
