Kamal Ghorui
In a series of fresh strikes in the war that began four years ago, Ukraine intensified pressure along the Black Sea front by targeting Russian military and energy infrastructure. Russia’s defence ministry claimed its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 112 Ukrainian drones overnight.GUR, Kyiv’s military intelligence, claimed that they struck two large Russian landing ships stationed in Sevastopol Bay in ‘occupied’ Crimea. The overnight attack on Sunday targeted vessels belonging to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.In a separate operation, Ukrainian forces also hit the Tuapse oil refinery for the second time in less than a week, according to drone forces commander Robert Brovdi. The facility, operated by Rosneft, processes around 2,40,000 barrels of crude per day and produces fuel including diesel and naphtha.Russian officials confirmed that a drone strike damaged transport infrastructure at Tuapse port. Regional governor Veniamin Kondratiev said one man was killed and another injured in the latest strike, which also damaged residential buildings, a school, kindergarten, museum and church. It marked the second attack on the port city in recent days.Earlier, a nighttime drone strike on April 16 had killed a 14-year-old girl and a young woman, the governor said.
