Drones struck an oil depot in the Tikhoretsk district of Krasnodar Krai overnight on 12 March, igniting a fire that spread across 150 square metres, according to the regional emergency operations centre and Russian Telegram channel Astra.
The facility belongs to Tikhoretsk-Neft LLC, a transshipment terminal linked to the Transneft pipeline network, Astra reports, citing footage from eyewitnesses that showed storage tanks at the depot ablaze.
The Krasnodar Krai operations centre confirmed the fire but attributed it to "the fall of UAV debris" — the standard official framing used by Russian authorities when reporting such incidents. "There are no casualties. The total fire area is 150 sq. m. 83 people and 26 units of equipment are taking part in extinguishing, including specialists from the Main Directorate of the Russian Emergencies Ministry for Krasnodar Krai," the statement read.
Astra's analysis of witness footage contradicted the debris explanation, indicating that tanks at the Tikhoretsk-Neft transshipment base were directly hit.
The Tikhoretsk oil hub is one of the largest oil transshipment points in southern Russia, operating as a major storage and transfer terminal within the Transneft system.
The attack came a day after Ukraine's Special Operations Forces reported strikes on a weapons arsenal, a radar station, a reconnaissance drone depot, and other Russian military infrastructure on temporarily occupied Ukrainian territory.
