Pétrolier fires and deadly drone strikes hit Ukraine and Novorossiisk
In the early hours of Monday, April 6, ET, a pétrolier terminal near Novorossiisk was engulfed in flames after a Ukrainian drone strike, while Russian attacks killed at least three people in Odessa, including a child. The two fronts of damage underlined how the war is again hitting energy infrastructure, ports, and civilians at the same time.
In Odessa, authorities said overnight Russian drone attacks killed at least three people, injured 16 others, and caused major power outages. President Volodymyr Zelensky said one of the dead was a two-year-old child, while DTEK, Ukraine’s main private electricity supplier, said more than 16, 000 homes lost power after critical energy infrastructure was hit.
Odessa takes another direct hit
Emergency crews evacuated wounded residents after a drone struck a residential building in Odessa and set it on fire, leaving a large hole in the structure. The city, a major Black Sea port through which most Ukrainian exports pass, has remained a regular target in the fighting.
Zelensky said more than 140 drones were launched in the overnight attack and that energy infrastructure was also damaged in the regions of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Dnipro. He urged Ukraine’s partners to help strengthen air defenses so that more Russian drones and missiles can be intercepted.
Pétrolier terminal near Novorossiisk burns
At the same time, Ukrainian drones struck the Sheskharis terminal near the port of Novorossiisk on the Black Sea, triggering fires at one of Russia’s key oil export sites. The terminal is operated by Transneft, the state monopoly on pipelines, and handles between 3. 5 million and 4. 5 million tons of crude a month.
The attack came as Kiev has been striking Russian oil infrastructure in an effort to cut the Kremlin’s export capacity and reduce the gains from high global oil prices. The Novorossiisk site is Russia’s largest Black Sea port, and it had already seen a suspension of oil loading after earlier drone strikes in early March.
A Russian official in Krasnodar, Governor Veniamine Kondratiev, said drone attacks from Ukraine since Sunday morning have injured at least eight people and damaged apartment buildings and houses. The Russian defense ministry said its air defenses shot down 50 Ukrainian drones overnight.
What the strikes mean now
The latest sequence shows how quickly the conflict is spilling across both civilian neighborhoods and strategic energy assets. In Odessa, the damage is immediate and visible; at the pétrolier terminal near Novorossiisk, the fire adds new pressure on Russian oil logistics and export flows.
For now, the key facts are still unfolding, but the direction is clear: both sides are targeting infrastructure that matters far beyond the battlefield. As Monday progresses ET, attention will stay on casualty updates in Ukraine and the extent of damage at the pétrolier terminal near Novorossiisk.
