Drone attack paralyzes a major Russian oil terminal

• Read more: Ukraine claims attack on Russian oil tankers in the Black Sea
• Under pressure from Washington: Zelensky, rocked by a corruption scandal, is losing power at a critical moment in the war

This new meeting in the United States was overshadowed by the dismissal of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s right-hand man, who was supposed to lead the delegation, and the exchange of hostilities between the two sides.

Part of Ukraine woke up Saturday to a barrage of Russian drones and missiles, killing three people and damaging several buildings in Kiev, according to authorities.

The Energy Ministry said the overnight explosions kept many residents awake at night, leaving half a million homes without power in the capital.

“We heard a very strong explosion,” said Natalia Shkoda (43 years old). She added: “My husband said: Our car could have crashed. When I got out, I saw it was on fire.”

The head of the city’s military administration, Timur Tkachenko, denounced what happened and described it as “an attempt by the Russians to simply terrorize the civilian population.” Also on Saturday, naval drones attacked an important oil terminal in the Russian port of Novorossiysk, in the south of the country and on the banks of the Black Sea.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), the terminal’s owner which includes US groups such as Chevron and ExxonMobil, denounced the action as a “terrorist attack.” As a result, one of the station’s docking points became inoperable and the company announced that activities would resume “once the drone threats are eliminated.”

The CPC pipeline, which begins in Kazakhstan, is an important transportation route for Kazakh oil and one of the largest in the world by volume, managing about 1% of global supplies. Ukraine did not comment or claim this action. On the other hand, he claimed responsibility for attacks on two oil tankers in the Black Sea, which were allegedly transporting Russian oil.