MOSCOW – A drone attack on the Taman port, located on the Black Sea coast in Russia’s southwestern Krasnodar Krai region, killed three people and injured eight others on Wednesday evening.
According to Interfax news agency, the strike caused a fire that spread to four tanks of petroleum products, resulting in the deaths of three people and moderate injuries to eight others.
Taman port serves as Russia’s key export hub for oil, petroleum products, coal, sulfur, ammonia, carbamide and food cargo.
Also on Wednesday, a Ukrainian attack on port facilities in Russia’s Krasnodar region killed two people, local authorities said.
Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram that the strike hit port terminals in the village of Volna in the Temryuk district.
Preliminary information indicated that two employees of the enterprise were killed and several others were injured, Kondratyev said.
The attack sparked a fire at the site, igniting four tanks containing oil products, the governor said, adding that firefighting and emergency response operations are ongoing.
US president’s special envoy’s remarks on Ukraine
Separately, Russia’s stock market extended gains during the main trading session of the Moscow Exchange on Wednesday following remarks on the Ukraine issue by US president’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, TASS reported.
As of 13:00 Moscow time (1000 GMT), the MOEX Russia Index and the RTS Index were both up 0.37 percent, reaching 2,748.09 points and 1,112.38 points, respectively. By 13:23 Moscow time (1023 GMT), the MOEX Index had climbed 1.04 percent to 2,766.53 points, while the RTS Index also rose 1.04 percent to 1,119.84 points.
In an interview with CNBC, Witkoff said he hoped to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. He also noted that significant progress had been made in talks with Russia on the Ukraine issue.
Russia’s presidential special envoy Kirill Dmitriev held talks with Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday. After the meeting, Witkoff described the talks that lasted over two hours as “very positive”.