A major fire broke out at an oil depot in Armavir after an overnight attack by Ukrainian drones.
According to the Krasnodar Krai Operational Headquarters on Telegram, by Sunday morning, March 8, the blaze was contained to an area of 700 square meters.
“Some 120 personnel and 38 units of equipment, including from Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry, are involved in the firefighting effort,” the post said. The operations HQ later reported the fire had been extinguished.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in its morning update that four drones were destroyed over Krasnodar Krai overnight. Air defenses shot down or neutralized a total of 72 drones over regions of Russia and annexed Crimea, including 20 each over Astrakhan region and annexed Crimea, 14 over Rostov region, eight over Belgorod region, three over Kursk region and two over Volgograd region. Another drone was downed over the Sea of Azov.
Rostov region Governor Yuri Slyusar said overnight drone attacks were repelled in three districts: Chertkovsky, Millerovsky and Morozovsky. “There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage on the ground. This will be clarified,” he added.
Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram on the morning of March 8 that Belgorod came under heavy rocket fire. “…Massive shelling of energy facilities. Emergency crews are already out,” he wrote around 6:20 a.m. Moscow time. “As a result of the shelling, the region’s energy infrastructure facilities were damaged. Large-scale disruptions to electricity, water and heat supply have been recorded in Belgorod and border municipalities. Emergency crews are carrying out restoration work,” one of Gladkov’s later posts said. “Three apartments in two apartment buildings (MKD; apartment buildings — Ed.), an administrative building of an enterprise and five vehicles were damaged.”
Three people were injured in the past 24 hours as a result of drone attacks on Belgorod region.
In Belgorod, a civilian suffered barotrauma, and in the village of Gruzskoye a man was wounded after a drone detonated, according to Gladkov.
Around 10 a.m. local time, Gladkov said that in the village of Rzhevka in the Shebekinsky district, a civilian sustained shrapnel wounds to the legs when an FPV drone detonated.
Kursk region head Alexander Khinshtein reported on Telegram that 33 drones were shot down over the region overnight. “The enemy used artillery 46 times on evacuated areas. Thirteen times drones attacked our territory by dropping explosive devices,” he wrote.
