Armed Conflict — 2026-05-25

Pro-Ukrainian Partisans Claim They Blinded Russian Air Defenses Before Major Drone Attack on Novorossiysk Oil Depot

BLUFPairing ground sabotage with drone waves signals a maturing Ukrainian template that could systematically degrade Russian air defenses, leaving the southern oil-export corridor increasingly exposed through the summer campaign.

The pro-Ukrainian Atesh partisan group claimed on May 23 that its operatives disabled communication towers and damaged a transformer substation near Novorossiysk on the night of May 22–23 1. Atesh said the sabotage degraded stationary radar coverage and left air defense units unable to respond to low-flying drone targets ahead of the subsequent Ukrainian strikes 1. Ukraine's General Staff confirmed strikes on the Sheskharis oil terminal, the Grushovaya oil depot, and the shadow-fleet tanker Chrysalis, with fires recorded at both oil facilities 1234. Novorossiysk Mayor Andrey Kravchenko acknowledged the fire and two casualties, attributing ignition to falling drone debris, while Russia's defense ministry claimed its forces intercepted 348 drones overnight across 14 regions and occupied Crimea 45.

Analysis
Atesh's account, taken at face value, documents a new operational template in Ukraine's deep-strike campaign: coordinated ground-level sabotage disabling air-defense communications before a drone wave reaches its target. The Grushovaya depot and Sheskharis terminal together form the Sheskharis Transshipment Complex, Transneft's primary Black Sea export node for southern-corridor crude. Confirmed fires at both facilities, alongside the Chrysalis shadow-fleet tanker strike, constitute the most consequential single Ukrainian operation against Russia's southern oil-export architecture in May. Russia's simultaneous claim of 348 drone intercepts alongside confirmed terminal fires creates an evidentiary tension: either the intercept count is substantially inflated, or the radar suppression Atesh describes meaningfully degraded the defensive response.
6 sources
  1. Pro-Ukrainian partisans blinded Russian air defenses on night of drone attack on major oil depot Atesh group claims - Kyiv Independent
  2. Ukraine strikes Russia's Sheskharis terminal with 75 million tons of annual oil throughput and 2.5 million cubic meters of tank capacity - Euromaidan Press
  3. Fire Broke Out at Oil Terminal in Novorossiysk Following Strike by Ukrainian Drones - Militarnyi
  4. Ukrainian Drone Attack Sparks Fire at Russian Oil Depot - The Moscow Times
  5. Drone attack causes fires at oil depot, fuel terminal in Novorossiysk – media - Ukrinform
  6. Fire Hits Russia's Novorossiysk Oil Terminal After Drone Attack - Kyiv Post

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