Russia and Ukraine exchanged large-scale drone strikes overnight into Sept. 9. In the Russian Black Sea city of Novorossiysk, a Ukrainian attack killed four people, including a child, and injured 29 others, according to local authorities. In Ukraine, Russian drones struck several targets, including a border crossing with Moldova, where two people were killed.
Krasnodar governor Veniamin Kondratyev reported that three of the 29 injured in the strike on Novorossiysk were in serious condition. Three private homes and five apartment buildings were damaged, along with an Orthodox church and a kindergarten.
In Anapa, falling drone debris damaged three more private homes and a kindergarten. No injuries were reported there. Damage from the attack was also recorded in the Krymsk and Temryuk districts.
Several industrial sites in Novorossiysk caught fire during the attack. The independent outlet Astra used footage posted by witnesses to geolocate the blaze to the grounds of the Novorossiysk fuel oil terminal. The facility is part of the Novorossiysk transport hub and handles the transshipment of petroleum products.
Satellite data from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) also showed a fire in the area of the Novorossiysk fuel oil terminal. According to its map, heat signatures were recorded near the terminal between 2:05 a.m. and 3:45 a.m. Moscow time on Sept. 9, with the strongest readings at 3:45 a.m.
The fire radiative power (FRP) in the terminal area reached between 25 and 27 megawatts, a level consistent with a noticeable fire, though FIRMS data alone cannot establish exactly what was burning or the size of the blaze. The system records heat anomalies, while the location of the readings near the fuel oil terminal provides additional support for Astra’s geolocation of the fire.
Robert “Magyar” Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, later confirmed that Ukrainian forces had carried out a coordinated strike overnight on the Russian naval base in Novorossiysk. He claimed that several military vessels, including missile-carrying ships, were damaged or destroyed.
Brovdi also said Ukrainian drones destroyed a Su-33 carrier-based fighter jet, a Mi-8 helicopter, and two radar systems in the city of Anapa. According to him, the radars were a Kasta-2E2 system and a 92N6 radar used with S-300 and S-400 air defense systems in the Gelendzhik area.
