ASTRA: Fire still raging at one of Russia’s largest oil hubs after drone strike Photo

A fire that broke out after a drone strike at one of southern Russia’s largest oil hubs is still burning a day later, with firefighters yet to localise the blaze near Tikhoretsk in Krasnodar krai.

Regional authorities said emergency crews continued battling the fire on March 12 at an oil depot in the Tikhoretsk oil industrial cluster, a major storage and logistics hub for petroleum products in southern Russia, Caliber.Az reports via independent outlet ASTRA. 

“In the suburbs of Tikhoretsk, efforts continue to extinguish a fire at an oil depot caused by a UAV attack. The group involved in the liquidation has been increased to 270 people and 72 pieces of equipment. Specialists from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Krasnodar Territory are participating. As of 20:20 on 12 March, the area of the fire remains unchanged at 3,800 square metres,” the regional operational headquarters said.

Earlier on March 12, ASTRA reported, citing eyewitnesses, that an oil depot in the Tikhoretsk industrial cluster had been struck, triggering a large fire.

Authorities initially said 257 firefighters, 69 pieces of equipment and a fire train had been deployed to the site. According to the regional operational headquarters, the blaze — attributed to falling “UAV debris” — covered about 3,800 square metres as of 12:21 Moscow time.

Several Ukrainian media outlets later reported, citing sources, that the strike was carried out by drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine.

Satellite images published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty appeared to show at least one burning storage tank at the oil facility.

The fire was also detected by the NASA FIRMS monitoring system, which tracks temperature anomalies globally in near real time, indicating a large-scale blaze at the site.

By Sabina Mammadli