NATO Surveillance Precedes Ukraine’s Massive Strikes Targeting Russia’s Largest Black Sea Oil Port
NATO reconnaissance sorties monitoring Crimea and the Black Sea reportedly surged ahead of Ukraine’s series of drone strikes on Wednesday, targeting oil refineries, port facilities, and air defense systems across Russia’s Krasnodar region and the occupied Crimean Peninsula, according to a Kyiv Post report.
The Tuapse Oil Refinery on Russia’s Black Sea coast was reportedly hit by drone strikes, suffering significant damage from at least 40 explosions. The facility processes around 12 million tons of oil per year and exports more than 90% of its products.
While the news outlet reported that NATO’s increased air activity over Romania and surrounding waters preceded the attacks, it could not confirm a direct link between NATO’s high-level surveillance and the Ukrainian drone raids.
Additional targets by Ukraine’s overnight attack included seaport infrastructures near the Kerch Strait port of Temryuk, oil refineries and storage tanks adjacent to Anapa, and military airfields in Saki and Kacha within Crimea.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU), in collaboration with the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) and other defense components carried out the recent operations.
Russia has claimed that it destroyed 83 drones during the overnight attack over Krasnodar.
Concurrently, Russia launched nearly 200 drones overnight, targeting the Kyiv region and energy facilities in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian air defenses successfully intercepted 110 of the 177 drones deployed. The attacks resulted in civilian casualties, including the deaths of Ukrinform journalist Tetiana Kulyk and her husband, Professor Pavlo Ivanchev, in the Kyiv region.
