Ukraine to keep targeting Russian energy after hitting sea terminal

A Ukrainian drone attack on a sea terminal in southern Russia has killed one person, according to Russian authorities, the latest in a flurry of strikes hammering Russian infrastructure.

Drone debris sparked a fire in part of the facility in Temryuk district in Russia’s Krasnodar region, local Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram on Saturday.

He did not give details, but Russian news outlets reported that a Black Sea export terminal transporting terminal crude oil, petroleum products and liquefied gas in the village of Volna was damaged.

Ukraine’s SBU security service said on Saturday that one of its latest attacks targeted the Tamanneftegaz terminal in Krasnodar, describing it as “the largest liquefied hydrocarbon transshipment complex in southern Russia”.

The SBU said the strikes hit five fuel tanks and two oil loading stands, sparking fires in the area of the terminal’s freight transport depot and storage facilities.

The attack is part of an intensified Ukrainian campaign against Russian energy infrastructure, including refineries, depots and pipelines deep inside the country, which has exacted pain on the Russian economy more than four years into the war.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that Ukrainian strikes are “causing us damage,” but said Russia would recover quickly and escalate its own attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.

‘Deprive the Russian war machine’

Separately, Ukraine’s military claimed to have hit an oil processing and pumping facility near the town of Kotovo in Russia’s Volgograd region, causing a fire. Russian authorities said a strike had caused a fire in an industrial part of the area.

Meanwhile, power was restored to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, after a strike several days earlier cut off its external electricity supply, said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In a statement, Ukraine’s SBU pledged to keep targeting Russia’s oil and gas sector, calling it “a source of funding for the war against Ukraine”.

“Oil revenues are turned into missiles, drones, and ammunition used to attack Ukrainian cities,” said the SBU. “Therefore, the SBU will continue systematically depriving the Russian war machine of resources to wage war.”

Peace talks to end the war, which began in February 2022, have largely stalled, with Putin recently dismissing an invitation for face-to-face talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.