Early on Thursday, the TASS news agency reported that a "drone attack caused a fire in parts of a petroleum product tank at an oil refinery in southern Russia," but emergency services stated they extinguished the fire two hours after it broke out.
TASS explained that "the incident occurred at the Ilskai refinery near the port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea in the Krasnodar region." A fire broke out Wednesday in a fuel depot west near the bridge connecting the Russian mainland to the Crimean Peninsula.
Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratiev wrote on Telegram: "Another tough night for our emergency services," indicating that "there are no injuries or fatalities, according to initial reports." He did not mention how the fire started.
The Russian foreign ministry considered that supplying Kyiv with Western weapons "randomly" and encouraging it to launch a counteroffensive would escalate the conflict, stating: "We are confident in the readiness of the Russian army for any scenario, and the Western countries and Ukraine will not gain any advantages."
Ukrainian authorities announced this morning that they intercepted a new Russian attack on the capital Kyiv, which involved missiles and drones, noting that they shot down 4 Russian drones targeting Mykolaiv Oblast.
Additionally, the Ukrainian army revealed it shot down 18 out of 24 drones launched from the Sea of Azov. The death toll from the Russian attack in Kherson Oblast has risen to 23, with 50 wounded.
It is noted that the Russian presidential administration announced on Wednesday that the Kremlin was targeted by two drones, and due to actions taken timely by the army and security services, "the drones were disabled without injuries or material damage."
