Transneft stops crude supplies to Novorossiysk after Ukrainian attack

Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk halted oil exports on November 14 following a Ukrainian drone attack, according to two industry sources who told Reuters that Transneft, the country’s oil pipeline monopoly, had suspended crude supplies to the terminal.

Local officials reported that Ukrainian drones struck multiple targets in Novorossiysk on November 14, damaging an oil facility, several residential buildings and a civilian vessel docked in the port, which is one of Russia’s key outlets for oil exports.

Authorities confirmed that three apartment blocks were hit. In one building, fragments from a downed drone crashed into a flat, injuring a resident who was taken to the hospital. Two other buildings — five and sixteen storeys high — sustained shattered windows, but no additional casualties were reported. No fires were recorded at the scene.

Debris from what officials described as a “massive” drone barrage also struck a civilian vessel moored in the harbour. Three crew members were injured and transported to the hospital. The authorities did not disclose the vessel’s identity.

The overnight attacks triggered expanded flight restrictions across southern and central Russia. By early November 13, eleven airports had suspended arrivals and departures, including those in Gelendzhik, Volgograd, Penza, Saratov, Tambov, Krasnodar, Kazan, Nizhnekamsk, Orenburg, Samara and Ufa — although all later resumed normal operations.

By Tamilla Hasanova