Ukraine said it had struck Russian military and energy targets in the Black Sea overnight, including a missile carrier in the port of Novorossiysk and an oil rig near occupied Crimea, the commander of the drone force in Kiev said, quoted by the BBC.
The attack was aimed at the missile carrier "Admiral Grigorovich", Robert Brody reported on the Telegram app.
Russian authorities earlier reported a massive Ukrainian drone attack on Novorossiysk and other cities in the Krasnodar region, which lasted almost 24 hours from Sunday morning. According to the latest reports, 10 people were injured and residential buildings were damaged.
Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said that drone debris had been "found on the territory of several enterprises", without mentioning the seaport of Novorossiysk — Russia's largest commercial port and a key oil export hub.
The region is strategically important for the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which transports oil from western Kazakhstan to a terminal near Novorossiysk. In late November, an attack by Ukrainian naval drones disabled the consortium's single-point mooring (SPM), and operations were only restored in late January. In mid-January, the Matilda tankers and "Delta Harmony", loaded with Kazakh oil, were also attacked by drones near the terminal.
The CPC system provides over 80% of Kazakhstan's oil exports. Shareholders include the Russian Federation (31%), Kazakhstan (20.75%) and private companies, including Chevron (15%).
Following a previous attack on Novorossiysk in late February, the US State Department urged Kiev to avoid strikes on targets related to US interests. "This affected the economic interests of America and Kazakhstan," said Olga Stefanyshyna, Ukraine's ambassador to Washington. Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry described the November attack on the CPC terminal as an "act of aggression" against a "purely civilian object".