Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian port refinery trigger fires, oil spills, toxic rain

Thick black soot, a chemical stench and oil slicks have transformed Tuapse from a Black Sea resort town into a cleanup zone after repeated Ukrainian drone strikes hit a Rosneft-owned refinery and marine terminal on Russia’s southern coast.

The April 28 strike set off major fires at the port refinery in Krasnodar Krai, about 80 kilometers northwest of Sochi, and local authorities ordered evacuations near the site. It was the third attack on the Tuapse refinery and port area in less than two weeks, after strikes on April 16 and April 20 triggered multi-day blazes and forced operations to halt at a facility that processes about 12 million metric tons of crude a year.

The damage has spread well beyond the industrial perimeter. Residents were told not to drink tap water, schools were closed and May holiday events were canceled because of pollution concerns. Cleanup crews have removed 12,600 cubic meters of contaminated material, while Russian emergency workers were sent to five newly discovered sections of coastline still coated in oil.

On the shore and along the Tuapse River, volunteers and residents described a scene of black grime, oily residue and a strong chemical odor. Some cleanup has been done manually with buckets and shovels because of a lack of equipment and personnel. Oil slicks were visible from the air, and the contamination reached the Black Sea coast near Agoy and Olginka, underscoring how quickly the spill spread through the local environment.

Tuapse is not just an industrial port. Home to about 60,000 people, it sits in Russia’s subtropical Black Sea resort belt, once promoted as the “Russian Riviera.” The refinery and marine terminal are tied directly to fuel exports and to Moscow’s wider war economy, which is why the strikes have carried strategic weight far beyond Krasnodar region.

For Vladimir Putin, the attacks have been framed as strikes on civilian targets. For Tuapse, the fallout has been more immediate and more enduring: soot on buildings and beaches, contaminated water concerns, animals coated in residue and a coastline that now has to be dug, scraped and washed clean long after the blast. The fires may have burned out, but the environmental damage is still moving through the town’s water, soil and air.