Translated material
Residents of Tuapse record video of “oil rains” after the strike on the oil refinery
Tuapse, a Russian port city on the Black Sea whose oil facilities have been hit by Ukrainian drones in recent days, is reeling from major fires at oil storage facilities.
The strikes were carried out on the nights of April 16 and 20, and the fire after the last of them continues to this day. Local residents are urged to avoid being in the open air, not to open windows, to carry out wet cleaning more often, and to use masks and respirators when going outside. Volunteers are encouraged to take care of homeless animals. Local activists told "That's So" that many street dogs and cats now show signs of poisoning: they are breathing heavily, their eyes are red, and their fur is covered with oil.
Videos of “oil rains” are published on social networks, after which black sediment remains on the ground.
They are recorded by local residents. They also ridicule official reports that the concentration of harmful substances does not exceed the norm; examples of indignant comments are given by “We Can Explain.”
On the evening of April 22, the operational headquarters of the Krasnodar Territory stated that in a number of areas of Tuapse the amount of harmful elements in the air was two to three times higher than permissible. “Due to a strong fire, combustion products are released into the atmosphere, which fell along with rain in the city on April 22, creating the effect of a black coating on surfaces,” the headquarters admitted. They say that the fight against the fire continues, and the number of firefighters participating in the extinguishing has increased.
Experts are talking about a major environmental disaster. “Unburned petroleum products will now spill over part of our district and up to the beginning of the Main Range of the Greater Caucasus. The consequences for the city, the Tuapse district and the region as a whole will last for years,” ecologist Evgeniy Vitishko told the publication “That’s So.”
At the same time, the local prosecutor’s office organized a tree planting campaign in the city on April 22. Published photos show plumes of smoke from a fire at an oil storage facility. The post was subsequently deleted, but had already gone viral on social networks.
On Monday afternoon, the Ukrainian General Staff and other security agencies confirmed that Ukrainian drones had repeatedly struck the Tuapse oil refinery in the Krasnodar Territory, causing fuel tanks to catch fire. Subsequently, satellite images were published, according to which, the smoke from the fire stretched for tens and even hundreds of kilometers and reached Stavropol at a distance of about 300 km from Tuapse.
Residents of Tuapse record video of “oil rains” after the strike on the oil refinery