Overnight drone raids set fire to oil tanks in southern Russia Air traffic disrupted

A drone attack on Russia’s Krasnodar region overnight triggered fires at an oil storage facility, caused infrastructure damage in rural areas, and led to the temporary closure of Krasnodar Airport, regional and federal authorities said on December 25.

According to the operational headquarters of the Krasnodar region, two reservoirs containing petroleum products caught fire after Ukrainian drones struck near the port of Temryuk.

Officials said the blaze covered an area of around 2,000 square meters. Emergency services were immediately dispatched to the site, with 70 personnel and 18 units of equipment involved in firefighting efforts, including teams from the regional branch of Russia’s Emergencies Ministry. Authorities said there were no casualties.

The impact of the drone attacks was also felt beyond the port area. In the Shcherbinovsky district, several buildings and pieces of agricultural machinery were damaged. Local officials said the resulting fires were quickly extinguished and, as in Temryuk, no injuries were reported.

The overnight attack disrupted air traffic as well. Amid the drone threat, Krasnodar Airport suspended the arrival and departure of flights on the night of December 25. Operations were halted as a precautionary measure, though officials did not immediately specify when normal service would resume.

The incidents in Krasnodar were part of what Russia’s Defence Ministry described as a large-scale Ukrainian drone assault targeting multiple Russian regions as well as occupied Crimea. In a statement posted on Telegram, the ministry said that between 11:00 p.m. Moscow time on December 24 and 7:00 a.m. on December 25, air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 141 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.

The highest number of drones was shot down over the Bryansk region, the ministry said. Air defences also destroyed 12 drones over the Tula region, 11 over the Kaluga region, nine over the Moscow region, and eight over the Republic of Adygea.

In addition, 39 drones were intercepted over the Rostov, Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, and Volgograd regions, as well as over the Krasnodar region, Crimea, and the waters of the Sea of Azov, according to the Defence Ministry.

By Tamilla Hasanova