Two Storage Tankers Burned Out at Oil Depot in Tikhoretsk, Russia, After Drone Strike

Two tanks at an oil depot in the Russian city of Tikhoretsk, located in Krasnodar Krai, were destroyed by a strike from Ukrainian drones.

A satellite image showing the aftermath of the attack was released by the OSINT community Dnipro Osint ⟨Garbuz⟩.

The strike occurred on the night of March 12. Immediately after the strikes, fires broke out at the facility, which were filmed by local residents.

Eyewitnesses observed thick black smoke rising from two fire sites from many kilometers away from the oil depot.

The facility struck yesterday is part of the Tikhoretsk oil hub—one of the largest oil transshipment points in southern Russia.

The oil depot is operated by the company Tikhoretsk-Nafta, which is part of Transneft.

The facility serves as a large oil depot and transshipment terminal, through which oil is received, stored, and subsequently transported via main pipelines.

Why is Russia’s oil infrastructure being targeted?

In recent years, Russian oil and gas infrastructure facilities have regularly been targeted by Ukrainian strike drones.

These attacks are intended to paralyze supply logistics, particularly the flow of crude oil to the global market, in order to undermine the aggressor country’s economic potential.

After all, it is well known that Russia spends a large portion of its budget on a full-scale war against Ukraine. At the same time, the lion’s share of its revenue comes precisely from the sale of energy resources abroad.

As part of these operations, on the night of March 8, strike drones of the Ukrainian Defense Forces struck the Armavir Linear Production and Dispatch Station (LPDS) in the Krasnodar Krai.

Fuel is pumped through the station via a main pipeline, stored in a tank farm, and shipped by rail for further distribution across the regions.