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Ukraine says a strike hit Russian Black Sea oil terminal in Tuapse

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces struck an oil terminal in the Russian Black Sea city of Tuapse, Ukraine’s General Staff said on Friday, marking the fourth attack targeting the region’s oil infrastructure in just over two weeks.

Explosions and a fire were recorded at the terminal, the statement from the General Staff said. Local officials in Russia said a Ukrainian drone attack sparked the blaze and that no casualties were reported.

The facility had been hit previously on April 16, April 20 and April 28. Regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said a fire at the city’s oil refinery had also been extinguished Thursday, less than 24 hours before the latest strike.

Meanwhile, Russian attacks continued to strike Ukraine.

Russia attacked the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil with over 50 drones on Friday, Mayor Serhii Nadal said.

Hits were recorded in industrial facilities and infrastructure, he said. At least 10 people were wounded, he added, while some neighborhoods remain without electricity as a result of the mass attack.

Two multi-story residential buildings and port infrastructure in Odesa were damaged after Russian forces launched another overnight drone attack on the southern region, local authorities said.

As a result of the strikes, an apartment in a 16-story building was destroyed and the roof caught fire. In another high-rise residential building, a fire engulfed the 12th floor, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service.

In a post on Telegram, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at least five people were wounded in the region. He said damage from overnight attacks was also recorded in the central city of Kryvyi Rih and the northeastern Kharkiv region, where railway infrastructure was hit.

“Russia continues to attack our energy infrastructure, critical infrastructure, and civilian objects. Tonight, there were 210 drone strikes, and about 140 of them were “Shahed” drones,” Zelenskyy wrote.

Ukraine’s drone strikes set a gloomy tone for Putin’s economic showcase

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — A massive black cloud rising above the St. Petersburg skyline from a Ukrainian drone strike set a gloomy tone for the opening of President Vladimir Putin's annual showcase of Russia's economic achievements. With Putin set to arrive Thursday in his hometown that is hosting the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Ukrainian attack a day earlier that set an oil terminal ablaze was another embarrassing blow to his efforts to minimize the impact of the 4-year-old conflict and cast it as a distant event with no effect on Russian daily life. The attack, which also targeted a naval base near Russia's second-largest city on the Gulf of Finland, underlined Ukraine’s growing capability to hit deep inside its neighbor and demonstrated that even the heavily protected city where Putin was born is increasingly vulnerable. Scores of flights were delayed or diverted at St. Petersburg’s airport and authorities cut cellphone internet service to try to prevent drone attacks.
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