The authorities are silent about the situation, the journalist who went to cover the situation was taken to the police station. At the same time, the evacuation of residents living around the port began.
On the night of April 28, the Ukrainian military launched a drone attack on the oil pumping infrastructure in the port of Tuapse. Krasnodar Krai emergency headquarters reported that there were no casualties as a result of the attack. A huge fire broke out in the harbor after the drones crashed. According to satellite images, smoke from the site spread at least 140 kilometers within a few hours.
Governor of the region Veniamin Kondratev reported on his Telegram channel that the authorities have begun evacuating residents of houses near the terminal “from the point of view of security”. They will be temporarily housed in the school building. According to the local “Kuban Inform” publication, on April 28, classes were canceled in all schools in the city, and only duty groups worked in kindergartens.
At the same time, almost no official information was given about the extinguishing of the fire, nor about the ecological situation in the city. Kondratev’s telegram channel confirmed the fact of the drone attack in the morning and only one post about the evacuation of the population appeared.
The regional operational headquarters was limited to reposting this message and has not released any updated information on the situation since then. In addition to reposting Kondratev’s message, the head of Tuapse, Sergey Boyko, published a post calling for the evacuation of people living in the streets around the port. The local branch of Rospotrebnadzor posted a note with recommendations on what to do in the event of “fire and existing risks”. This is a short set of basic tips: do not open the window, do not go outside as much as possible, humidify the air in the room often.
Russian President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov also refused to talk about what is happening in Tuapse at a press briefing, saying “any information about the places damaged by the strikes of the Kiev regime is closed.” “Necessary measures are being taken to eliminate the consequences,” said the representative of the Kremlin in general.
At the same time, according to witnesses, the ecological situation in the city is dire. “Kedr” correspondent Anastasiya Troyanova reports that in the Tuapse river, dark streams, which are sharply different from the water color and reminiscent of oil products, have been noticed.
It was a scary night. Huge columns of black smoke are now towering over the city. It smells like soot. At the same time, people are walking without respirators or in simple medical masks. They say that they do not feel the smell: it is very dangerous, because this way you can get poisoned. The wind is helping: it disperses the smoke a little. But as someone who has been here for three days, I can say that I already have a cough and conjunctivitis.
Not long after this news, Troyanova lost contact – she managed to inform the editors that she was being captured by unknown persons. Later, the journalist was found at the police station – the people there informed that he was “interviewed”.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed the attack on the oil refinery in Tuapse, noting that the attack was carried out “within the framework of reducing the military-economic potential of Russia.” Officials of the office noted that the plant will be “used to deliver supplies to the occupying army of Russia on the territory of Ukraine.”
This is the third case since the beginning of April that the Ukrainian attack on Tuapse caused a major fire in the port and serious environmental consequences. The two previous attacks were carried out on April 16 and 20, in both cases drones hit civilian buildings in addition to port infrastructure. As a result of these attacks, three people were killed and ten people were injured.
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It took three days to put out the first fire that broke out in the port, after which an oil stain was discovered in the Black Sea on an area of 10,000 square meters. The second fire was extinguished for almost five days. During this time, the city’s air quality deteriorated sharply and “oil rain” fell.
Representatives of the city’s residents posted photos of pets and black puddles in the streets. They complained that the authorities are not providing much information about the changes in the situation, especially about the amount of harmful substances in the air.
