Ukrainian drone attack sparks fire at oil depot in Sochi, southwest Russia

An overnight Ukrainian drone attack has sparked a fire at an oil depot in Sochi, the southwestern Russian resort that hosted the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, local authorities say.

The attack came a day after Ukraine’s military said it struck the Ryazan oil refinery in central Russia, causing a fire. Ukraine has regularly hit Russian oil and gas infrastructure in response to attacks on its own territory since Russia began its war in February 2022.“Sochi suffered a drone attack by the Kyiv regime last night,” the governor of Russia’s Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratiev, said on the Telegram messaging application on Sunday.

Drone wreckage hit an “oil tank, which caused a fire”, Kondratiev said.

Sochi Mayor Andrei Proshunin said there were no victims and “the situation is totally under control”, adding that firefighters were extinguishing the blaze.

Air traffic was briefly suspended at Sochi’s airport but has resumed, Russia’s air transport regulator Rosaviatsia said.

Air strikes on Sochi, about 400km (250 miles) southeast of the Ukrainian border, are relatively rare compared with other Russian cities. However, Ukrainian drone attacks killed two people in the region late last month, according to local authorities.

Ukrainian officials have not commented on the fire.

Kyiv has warned it will intensify its air strikes against Russia in response to an increase in Russian attacks on its territory in recent weeks, which have killed dozens of civilians.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s air force said on Telegram that Russia had launched 76 attack drones and seven missiles targeting Ukraine overnight, striking eight locations throughout Ukraine. Ukraine’s air defence units destroyed 60 of the drones and one missile, it said.