Ukrainian drones hit a tanker in the port of Taganrog and an oil terminal in Armavir, southwestern Russia, Reuters reported, citing regional Russian authorities in Rostov Region and Krasnodar Krai, respectively, BTA reports.
The governor of Rostov Region, Yuri Slyusar, reported on Telegram that the fires that broke out on board the tanker and in the port of Taganrog - a city with about 240,000 inhabitants - had been extinguished, and no fuel oil leaks were reported. Two people - a man and a woman - were killed in the attack. are injured, he specified and emphasized that they have been admitted to the hospital, and "according to doctors' assessments, their condition is moderately serious."
Slyusar stated that nearly 50 drones were shot down over the area, and there were reports of attacks over the entire area, which borders the Ukrainian region of Donbass – the epicenter of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine.
According to him, only minor damage was recorded outside Taganrog.
The city's mayor, Svetlana Kambulova, said in turn that the state of emergency declared locally on May 27 had been extended.
Later, the commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, Major Robert Brovdy, reported that Ukrainian drones had struck an oil refinery in Taganrog.
In neighboring Krasnodar Krai, authorities in Armavir, with a population of 185,000, reported that a fire that broke out at an oil facility in the city's industrial zone had been brought under control and that no one was injured.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the strike, which was carried out in Russia about 500 kilometers from the border between the two countries, Reuters also reported.
"Rightly so "we are returning the war to where it came from. Russia could have ended its aggression long ago, but instead chose to prolong it and continue it," Zelensky wrote on the social network Ex. "So, another object of the Russian oil industry has been reached – in Armavir, Krasnodar Krai," he added.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have meanwhile claimed responsibility in a statement from their General Staff for the attack in Taganrog, DPA reported.
An oil terminal used by the Russian army was hit and a fuel tank was damaged, the text said.
In recent months, Ukraine has regularly carried out attacks on Russian energy infrastructure to disrupt supplies to the army and make it more difficult for it to wage the war.
The Russian Federation's Defense Ministry announced this morning that 127 Ukrainian drones had been shot down overnight over the country's territory and the annexed Crimean peninsula.
The ministry usually does not provide details on possible damage, DPA noted.
However, authorities in the Belgorod region reported three men killed in two separate attacks a few kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
Previous The Ukrainian Air Force, for its part, said Russia had fired seven missiles, six of them cruise missiles, and 290 drones overnight. 284 of the flying objects were intercepted, but nine hits were recorded in seven places, and debris fell in 10 places, the report said. The head of the Zaporizhzhia Military District administration, Ivan Fedorov, reported one person killed and two wounded in a Russian drone attack. Three people were injured in a Russian attack in the neighboring Kherson region, regional authorities said. The claims by both sides in the conflict could not be independently verified.