Ukraine Strikes Russian Navy Base and Port in Novorossiysk With Neptune, Palianytsia Missles and Naval Drones

Ukrainian Defense Forces struck a Russian Navy base and the port in Novorossiysk overnight on Aug. 12 using Neptune missiles, Palianytsia missile-drones and unmanned naval vehicles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported the use of these weapons.

He said Ukrainian forces hit designated targets, including air defense positions, piers and port infrastructure.

Zelensky emphasized that Novorossiysk is the Russian fleet’s last major stronghold in the Black Sea, located more than 300 kilometers from the front line.

Russian warships that survived a series of Ukrainian attacks and fled temporarily occupied Crimea are based there.

NASA’s FIRMS satellite service captured fires, including in the area of the Sheskharis oil terminal, the naval base and oil-product storage tanks.

The terminal is the endpoint of Transneft’s main oil pipelines. Russia uses it to export oil and oil products through the Black Sea, making the facility strategically important.

Novorossiysk Grain Terminal was also damaged. Its conveyor trestle, used to transport grain between the elevator, storage facilities, transfer points and loading and unloading areas, was destroyed.

It is unknown whether the damage was caused by a drone or a missile strike or by Russian air defense. More than two dozen residential buildings in Novorossiysk were damaged as a result of air defense activity, according to Krasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratyev, who reported this in the morning.

“There are reports of UAV debris falling on 21 residential buildings, including apartment buildings, and four enterprises.

Emergency and special services are working at the sites,” Veniamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram.

Industry sources told Reuters that following the attack, Novorossiysk Grain Terminal, which has an annual export capacity of 8.5 million metric tons, suspended operations and is assessing the damage.

The agency’s sources also reported the suspension of operations at another grain terminal in Novorossiysk, the Novorossiysk Grain Products Combine (NKHP), which has an annual export capacity of 7.1 million metric tons.