The Black Sea has entered one of its most volatile phases as Ukraine and Russia escalate long-range strikes on each other’s critical energy and port infrastructure, leaving commercial shipping exposed to huge levels of risk.
Over the weekend, Ukraine claimed fresh hits on Rosneft’s Ryazan refinery — one of Russia’s five largest, processing up to 340,000 barrels per day — marking the facility’s second strike in less than a month. Kyiv also reported a successful attack on the Novokuybyshevsk refinery in Samara, deep inside Russian territory, where explosions and fires were recorded. Local governors in both regions confirmed overnight drone activity, though Russia has not detailed the extent of the damage.
These strikes form part of what Ukraine calls a strategy to degrade Russia’s offensive potential by targeting fuel production and supply chains far from the front. In Ryazan, Ukraine says multiple primary crude units, a storage tank and pipeline trestle were damaged.
Russia has retaliated with growing ferocity against Ukraine’s southern coast. An overnight barrage on Odesa ignited port-side energy facilities and damaged several civilian vessels moored at berth. One major port is now running on emergency power, with engineers rushing to restore electricity.
The insecurity has spilled directly into maritime operations. Novorossiysk, Russia’s largest Black Sea oil hub, halted exports for 48 hours after a combined Ukrainian cruise-missile and drone strike on Friday — briefly taking 2.2m barrels per day, equivalent to 2% of global supply, offline. Loadings resumed on Sunday.
In Ukrainian waters, the picture is equally grim. A vessel loading wheat at Odesa’s Pier 43 reported drones passing within 200–300 m of its port beam, while local agents warned of another significant air-raid event overnight. Security Level 3 remains in force across Ukrainian ports; crew shore leave is banned, and operators have been told to maintain maximum vigilance and shelter crews during aerial attacks.
With simultaneous strikes on refineries hundreds of miles inland and missile-drone attacks on Black Sea ports, the region’s maritime corridor has become a battlefield where both sides seek to disrupt logistics, fuel flows and export lifelines.
