Ukrainian drone attack on Rostov port kills civilians, oil tanker burns

A Ukrainian drone attack on the port of Rostov has left people dead and injured, the city's mayor, Alexander Skryabin, announced.

Writing on his Telegram channel, he said firefighters are battling a blaze on an oil tanker previously damaged in a drone attack, adding that an oil spill has been avoided, Caliber.Az reports.

The first report of a vessel damaged in the Rostov port came at around 1:30 a.m. from regional governor Yuri Slyusar. The mayor later clarified that a tanker caught fire at a berth in the city’s western residential district.

Separately, four residents of Bataysk were injured following the drone raid on the region, where two private houses caught fire, while a multi-storey residential building was damaged in Rostov.

In 2025, Ukraine has increasingly used long-range drones to target Russian energy infrastructure, logistics hubs, refineries, and transport lines across Russia, aiming to weaken Moscow’s ability to finance and sustain its war effort. 

Rostov Oblast has repeatedly been a focus of Ukrainian drone strikes because it hosts key rail lines and supply routes that Moscow uses to transport troops, equipment, and materiel to the front lines in eastern Ukraine. 

By Jeyhun Aghazada