WAR IS ECOCIDE
Video: Ukrainian Drones Hit Russian Refinery at Port of Tuapse
Just days after a suspected drone strike disabled an LNG terminal at Ust-Luga, Russia, Ukrainian forces hit a Russian refinery at the Black Sea port of Tuapse. The port is hundreds of miles behind the front lines, and the attack reflects the efficacy of Ukraine's new long-range suicide drones.
Bystander video showed a column of flame and smoke ascending from the center of the complex, near a distillation column. The fire was extinguished within hours, local officials said. The extent of the damage and its effects on refinery operations are not yet known.
Russian media outlets have also released bystander videos of what appears to be a drone aircraft buzzing towards the refinery complex before impact, confirming Ukrainian claims.
The Rosneft-owned refinery is part of a vast tank farm complex extending inland from the seaport, and it is the only Russian facility of its kind on the Black Sea coast. No impacts on the waterside infrastructure or the storage tanks were reported.
The effects on global energy markets appear to be slight. According to TankerTrackers.com, Tuapse only exports about 100,000 barrels per day of petroleum - a relatively small fraction of total Russian output, which is measured in millions of barrels per day.
In addition to the attacks at Ust-Luga and Tuapse, petroleum facilities have also been hit recently in St. Petersburg, Tambov and Bryansk. The string of attacks may be intended to blunt a widely-anticipated new Russian offensive.
Dredger Sinks at Pier in Mykolaiv, Ukraine
A dredger has gone down at its berth at the port of Mykolaiv, Ukraine, spilling petroleum into the harbor. Environmental monitoring is under way, according to local authorities.
Ukraine's State Environmental Inspectorate reports that the dredger Ginger went down at the port of Mykolaiv on January 15. The cause was not reported, but photos and water quality sampling showed evidence of worsening pollution from the wreck. As of January 19, petroleum concentration in the water was about 15 times normal limits.
The inspectorate has called for pollution-abatement measures. So far, a cleanup has not begun; the sunken vessel joins a long list of other recovery projects in the war-torn country.
Ginger was a 1966-built hopper dredger of 1,700 dwt in size. It was also known as the Severodvinskiy, and was recently owned by a Canada-based firm.
Ukraine May Have Sunk Another Russian Warship
A Ukrainian partisan group reports that Ukraine's Navy sank a small Russian warship in December, without acknowledgement from either Moscow or Kyiv.
Satellite imagery appears to confirm that a small surface combatant or patrol boat has sunk alongside a pier in Sevastopol's inner harbor.
Based on images taken before the sinking, the vessel appears to measure 180 feet long and has gray topsides. This would be consistent with a Project 1241 Molniya missile corvette (NATO reporting name Tarantul), of which several are in service in the Black Sea Fleet.
Open-source analysts and Ukrainian media have identified the vessel as a Project 205P patrol boat (NATO reporting name Stenka), a much smaller patrol vessel with a similar Soviet name.
The timing of the satellite imagery suggests that the vessel sank in December. Ukrainian media outlets have reported it as a likely hit from a drone-boat strike a few weeks back; Russia has not acknowledged the loss, and the Ukrainian military does not always claim responsibility for successful attacks.
Though challenged by equipment shortages on the battlefield ashore, Ukraine has had considerable success attacking Russia's Black Sea Fleet, both in port and under way. Among many other strikes, in September it destroyed a Kilo-class submarine and a tank landing ship in Sevastopol, then hit the fleet headquarters building with a cruise missile. In October it hit a patrol ship off the coast of Sevastopol; in November it destroyed two small landing ships and a brand new corvette; and in December it destroyed another landing ship, setting off large secondary explosions. In its highest-profile attack, in 2022 Ukraine sank the fleet's flagship, the cruiser Moskva.
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