Smoke from fire in Russia's Tuapse spreads more than 300 km
Photo: smoke from the Tuapse fire stretched more than 300 km (NASA Worldview)
A large-scale fire at an oil refinery in Russia’s Tuapse has produced thick smoke stretching hundreds of kilometers. It has been recorded reaching the Stavropol region, according to NASA Worldview data.
Satellite images show the widespread smoke from burning oil storage tanks.
At the same time, NASA FIRMS fire monitoring system continues to detect active fire hotspots at the facility, confirming that fuel tanks are still burning. According to the Krasnodar region’s emergency operations center, firefighting efforts are ongoing.
What preceded it
On April 16, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) reported a strike on the Tuapse oil refinery and oil transport infrastructure at the port, carried out jointly with the Defense Forces.
On the night of April 20, Ukraine’s Defense Forces launched a second strike on an oil terminal in the same area. A hit on a tank farm was recorded, followed by a fire. According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, the blaze was still ongoing as of April 21, indicating significant damage.
A series of strikes on key oil terminals along the Baltic coast has already cost Russia nearly $1 billion in export losses alone.
Against this backdrop, Russia was forced to sharply cut oil production in April. Damage to ports and refineries, along with transportation disruptions, including via the Druzhba pipeline, has made it harder to process and ship part of the crude.
