Afipsky: reports of Ukrainian drone strike on the refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar Territory – Moscow claims 142 drones downed

Ukrainian drones attacked targets in southern Russia overnight into Friday, November 6. Ukrainian monitoring channels on Telegram reported a fire at the Afipsky refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar Territory, with a second wave of strikes at dawn, as well as explosions outside the city of Krasnodar and in the Republic of Adygea. The Territory’s operational headquarters confirmed a fire at one of the enterprises in Afipsky, and Russia’s Defence Ministry claims it shot down 142 Ukrainian drones.

What the Russian side says

According to the operational headquarters’ announcement, the fire in Afipsky, in the Seversky district, was caused by drone debris falling on the grounds of one of the town’s enterprises. There were no injuries and emergency services were working at the site. Fragments of a drone also broke the windows of an apartment in a low-rise building. Shortly afterwards the Territory’s authorities reminded residents that filming drones and the operation of air defences is prohibited, arguing that footage can reveal the positions of Russian armed forces.

In a statement published by the same headquarters, the Russian Defence Ministry says its air defences destroyed 142 Ukrainian unmanned aircraft overnight over the regions of Kursk, Belgorod, Tula, Oryol, Rostov and Astrakhan, the Moscow area, Krasnodar Territory, Crimea, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The figure is significantly lower than in previous nights: for the night into Wednesday, November 4 the ministry had spoken of 709 drones, and for the night into Thursday, November 5 of 496, when the Ryazan refinery was reportedly targeted. These are Russian claims that cannot be independently verified.

The region has been under drone attack since Wednesday

Krasnodar Territory and neighbouring Adygea have been receiving drones since Wednesday, November 4, when the Russian e-commerce group Ozon announced that a drone hit its logistics centre in Adygea. The company said it immediately evacuated all employees, that nobody was injured and that a fire broke out. On Thursday, November 5, the Territory’s headquarters reported that drone debris fell in the Temryuk area: in the settlement of Ilyich an administrative building in a parking area caught fire, while in Starotitarovskaya the roof of a private home was damaged.

The overnight attacks on Russia follow a series of strikes on energy facilities. On November 3 a drone attack on the Yaroslavl refinery was reported, while Ukraine is hit by Russian attacks daily, such as the night of November 4, with 130 drones and seven missiles targeting energy and port infrastructure.

Ukraine’s strikes and the Russian attack of the same night

Ukraine’s General Staff announced on Thursday, November 5 that Ukrainian forces struck on Wednesday and overnight into Thursday a storage, preparation and launch site for strike drones near Gvardiiske in occupied Crimea, a drone depot in Melitopol, ammunition and logistics depots in the Donetsk region, a mobile fire group in Luhansk and repair workshops in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Overnight into Friday, November 6, Russia attacked Ukraine with 227 Shahed, Gerbera and decoy strike drones. The General Staff says Ukrainian air defence shot down or neutralised by electronic means 196 of them, and that strikes were recorded at 14 locations and debris fell at eight more.