A palace belonging to Vladimir Putin was in the line of fire after a Ukrainian drone attack on a nearby oil depot.
Footage on social media shows giant flames engulfing the Rosneft oil facility RN-Marine Terminal in the town of Tuapse in Krasnodar region.
It is the fourth attack on Russian energy infrastructure facilities within six days.
The depot is about 45 miles away from Putin’s £1 billion clifftop palace at Gelendzhik, which boasts an underground bunker, pole-dancing boudoir, and vineyard.
Putin's Black Sea palace was near the scene of the attack
Getty
The Russian president owns two palaces in the region, both of which are presumed to be protected by modern air defence systems.
It has not been verified who caused the drone attack strike. Unofficial Telegram channels have put the blame on Ukraine. The country has been known to use its kamikaze drones to strike inside Russia while it waits for new arms supplies from the West.
Russian energy company Novatek on Sunday said it had been forced to suspend some operations at the huge Baltic Sea fuel export terminal and "technological processes" at its fuel-producing complex after a fire started by what Ukrainian media said was a drone attack.
Air defences were heard in Tuapse before the explosion at the oil refinery owned by Rosneft, Russia’s second largest state-controlled company and the biggest oil producer.
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Footage posted on social media showed the fire
Telegram
Head of Tuapse district Sergei Boiko wrote on Telegram: "The vacuum unit was on fire. According to preliminary information, there were neither casualties nor injured."
The plant’s annual capacity is 12 million metric tons (240,000 barrels per day). It supplies fuel to countries that still trade with Russia, including Turkey, China, Malaysia and Singapore. It is believed the plant produces naphtha, fuel oil, vacuum gas oil and high-sulphur diesel.
Meanwhile, the international airport in Sochi, the one most frequently used by the president when he is in the region, was closed due to fears it was also under siege.
As a result of the incident, flights to Phuket, Dubai, Sharm el-Sheikh and Istanbul were among those delayed.
Yesterday, a Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane was downed near the Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border on Wednesday.
Russia has claimed the plane was carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers to a prisoner exchange and that it was downed by Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by the Interfax news agency, said the downing of the plane was a "monstrous act" and that discussions about prisoner swaps had to remain confidential.
Kyiv has not confirmed that it shot down the plane, nor has it confirmed that Ukrainian prisoners were on board.
