Ukraine drone attack triggers huge tanker fire off Russia’s Sochi

MOSCOW: Ukraine struck an oil tanker off the southern Russian coast on Tuesday evening, triggering a huge fire and black smoke cloud that blanketed parts of the resort city of Sochi.

Both sides have heavily targeted commercial shipping around the Black Sea since the start of the conflict in 2022, with Russia in recent days hitting grain vessels carrying Ukrainian goods near the coast of EU member Romania.

Russia’s transport ministry said a Liberian-flagged tanker had been attacked by “naval drones” and that “crude oil is burning openly in the waters of the Black Sea.”

Firefighters could not tackle the blaze due to its intensity, but a crew of 23 — all Indian citizens — had been rescued, it added.

Videos and photos circulated widely on social media from Sochi — a popular resort city of almost 500,000 people — showing bright orange flames out at sea and a thick column of black smoke billowing into the sky.

Access to the coast and beaches was being restricted, the city’s mayor said on social media.

Ukraine says its attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure are fair retribution for Moscow’s nightly barrages of its towns and cities.

Both sides have vowed to escalate strikes in recent weeks.

Russia has begun pummelling key bridges in Kyiv and striking the heart of the capital with daytime drone attacks — a new tactic that has plunged the city into gridlock.

Previous Ukrainian attacks on oil sites in southern Russia have resulted in oil slicks forming, beaches being closed and toxic black rain falling from the skies.