"Safe' Kremlin Black Sea Navy Port Burns, As Kyiv Drones Hit Frigate, Oil Assets

Two years ago, when Ukrainian drone and rocket attacks made Russia's historic Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Crimean Sevastopol untenable, the Kremlin moved them several hundred miles to the east, thinking Novorossiysk would be safe from attacks.

One burning cruise missile carrying frigate several drilling platforms and oil export terminals later, that assumption appears to be facing significant challenge. JL

Sonya Bandouil and Volodymyr Ivanyshyn report in the Kyiv Independent and New Voice of Ukraine reports:

Explosions were reported overnight on April 6 in the southern Russian port city of Novorossiysk, (new home of Russia's Black Sea Fleet since it was forced out of Crimea by Ukrainian attacks). A Russian frigate in the port, the Admiral Makarov, a Kalibr cruise missile carrier and the Syvash drilling platform were struck overnight. The Admiral Makarov was the last surviving Russian missile frigate equipped with Kalibr missiles in the Black Sea. The Sheskharis oil terminal in Novorossiysk, a major oil export terminal. was also struck by Ukrainian drones

Explosions were reported overnight on April 6 in the southern Russian port city of Novorossiysk, with local residents saying drones attacked an oil terminal and damaged a residential building.

The attack is the latest in a string of Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russia's most important oil terminals on the Baltic and Black Sea coasts in recent weeks, as Kyiv looks to restrict the windfall gained by Russia from soaring world oil prices.  

Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces struck a Russian frigate in the port of Novorossiysk and the Syvash drilling platform overnight, commander Robert “Madyar” Brovdi said, in one of the latest attacks on Russia’s Black Sea assets on Apr. 6.

Updated at 14:28. Madyar clarified that the vessel in question is the frigate Admiral Makarov, not Admiral Hryhorovych as previously reported. It is also a carrier of Kalibr cruise missiles.

According to Defense Express, the Admiral Makarov, a Project 11356R Burevestnik frigate, was the last surviving Russian missile frigate equipped with Kalibr missiles in the Black Sea. 

On March 2, Ukraine’s Defense Forces critically damaged another Project 11356R Burevestnik frigate, Admiral Essen. A third ship, Admiral Hryhorovych, has not been in the Black Sea since 2021, analysts said.

The operation was carried out by the 1st Separate Center of the SBS together with the Security Service of Ukraine. The extent of damage to the frigate is being assessed by intelligence, Madyar added.

“Air defense missile launches were carried out directly from the frigate as it approached the target, but that did not prevent us from striking it,” the SBS commander wrote.

He also said the SBS, together with the Ukrainian Navy, successfully struck the Russian offshore drilling platform Syvash.

Overnight on April 6, reports said drones attacked Novorossiysk in Russia’s Krasnodar Oblast. OSINT analysts reported a hit on the Sheskharis oil terminal and a fire.

The Sheskharis oil terminal was struck by Ukrainian drones, the independent Russian Telegram news channel Astra reported, citing eyewitness reports from the area.

The site is a major oil export terminal that serves as the endpoint for pipelines run by Russia's state-run Transneft, the world's largest oil pipeline company.

The most intense burning is taking place at the terminal's first pier, and the site's second pier was also struck, independent outlet Exilenova Plus reported.

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition nodes, which function as computer control hardware for the site, were also allegedly hit.

Kyiv has yet to comment on the attacks, and the Kyiv Independent cannot independently assess the damage to the facility.