Photo: @exilenova_plus / Telegram

Two people have been killed in the Russian Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk in a combined Ukrainian drone and unmanned surface vehicle strike on Wednesday afternoon, according to Krasnodar region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev.

Kondratyev said that the Ukrainian drones struck the city centre in the vicinity of the Hotel Novorossisk, causing damage to the hotel itself as well as several other residential properties including one high-rise apartment building. At least seven people were injured in the attack, according to Russian news agency TASS.

The offices of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) were among those damaged in the attack, according to Quantum Commodity Intelligence, an independent price reporting agency providing news and trade data for global energy markets.

The CPC is a joint venture between Western oil giants such as Exxon and Chevron, the Kazakh government, and Russian state-controlled companies Rosneft and Lukoil. This marks the third time in 2025 that CPC’s facilities in the city have been targeted.

Novorossiysk is one of Russia’s larger Black Sea ports and is of great strategic and economic significance for the Russian government. The port also hosts a military base and serves as an important export corridor for Russian grain and oil.

Russia recently relocated part of its Black Sea fleet to the port away from Crimea. Due to its location and strategic importance it has been targeted by the Ukrainian military on multiple occasions.