This is the second such incident in Krasnodar region in as many days
© Telegram / kondratyevvi
A fire broke out overnight at an oil storage facility in Russia’s Krasnodar Region following a suspected drone strike, TASS news agency reported citing a source in the local emergency services.
“A second restless night for our emergency services,” local governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Thursday morning, confirming that dozens of firefighters are working to contain the blaze at the Ilsky oil refinery.
No injuries have been reported, and local residents are not in danger, the official added. The fire was fully contained and extinguished by 5:30am.
While the governor did not reveal the suspected cause of the incident, a source told TASS that a fuel storage tank caught fire early Thursday morning allegedly “due to an attack of an unknown drone.” Witnesses reported at least one explosion in the area shortly before the blaze started around 2:40am local time, according to the Baza Telegram channel.
The incident comes a day after another oil facility in Krasnodar Region caught fire, also due to an alleged drone strike. Authorities, however, have yet to officially confirm the cause of the incident in the village of Volna, 10 km north of the port city of Taman and close to the east end of the strategic Crimean Bridge.
In late April Ukraine claimed it was behind the attack on an oil terminal in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, which destroyed four oil tanks, according to local authorities. Kiev stated then that the raid was meant to lay the ground for a much-talked-about Ukrainian spring counteroffensive.
Early Wednesday morning, two UAVs exploded over the Kremlin and the Russian Senate, with authorities saying they were brought down by air defenses. There were no injuries or reports of damage in the attack which Russia blamed on Ukraine, but the Kremlin said it reserves the right to retaliate in a manner, place, and time of its choosing.
