Moscow: A large explosion has occurred at an oil depot in Russia’s Krasnodar region, where emergency crews were already battling a fire caused by a Ukrainian drone strike earlier this week, local authorities reported on Friday.
According to officials, the blast happened while firefighters were working to contain the flames, leading to the release of burning oil. The fire quickly spread to another storage tank, doubling in size to approximately 10,000 square meters (108,000 square feet). More than 450 emergency personnel have been deployed to combat the blaze, with at least two firefighters sustaining injuries.
Regional authorities, cited by Interfax news agency, confirmed that air quality tests in two nearby areas detected heightened levels of hazardous chemicals, including benzene.
The oil depot, located near Kavkazskaya village, plays a key role in transporting Russian oil via rail to a pipeline that links Kazakhstan to the Black Sea. The difficulty in containing the fire underscores the growing impact of Ukraine’s strikes on Russia’s vast energy infrastructure, which is crucial to Moscow’s war efforts. Meanwhile, Russia has also continued targeting Ukraine’s energy facilities, leading to widespread power outages affecting civilians and industries.
Moscow's foreign ministry claimed on Thursday that Ukraine had violated a proposed ceasefire by striking the depot. However, Ukrainian officials accused Russia of breaking its commitments by continuing to attack civilian infrastructure.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated that Kyiv was open to participating in a ceasefire—reportedly discussed between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week—if a formal agreement with Russia is in place. Despite these talks, Zelenskiy accused Russia of ongoing attacks on critical infrastructure, including hospitals and railway systems, saying, “Putin’s words are very different from reality.”
