Burc Eruygur
16 April 2026•Update: 16 April 2026
At least two people were killed and eight others injured in a Ukrainian drone strike in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, local authorities said Thursday.
Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said in a morning statement on Telegram that an attack on residential buildings in the port town of Tuapse killed two children and injured two others, who are receiving medical care.
The town houses an oil export terminal and a refinery, both belonging to the Moscow-headquartered energy company Rosneft.
He later updated the number of injured in Tuapse to seven, adding that a state of emergency has been declared in the Tuapsinsky district, where drone debris damaged 24 private buildings, six apartment buildings, two educational institutions and a music school.
He also said drone strikes affected other coastal cities in the region, including Sochi and Novorossiysk, where one person was hospitalized after drone debris struck a civilian aircraft, causing a fire that was quickly extinguished.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed in a statement that the country’s air defenses shot down 207 Ukrainian drones launched overnight over six regions, including Krasnodar, as well as over the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the claims, though the country's Air Force said its air defenses shot down 636 of 659 drones and 31 of 44 missiles launched by Russia.
