Ukraine hits Novorossiysk naval base, damages grain terminals
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- Ukraine carried out a "unique" nighttime operation targeting Novorossiysk — the last major stronghold of Russia's Black Sea fleet after relocation from Sevastopol — striking air defences, piers and other port infrastructure, per Zelenskyy
- Hundreds of Ukrainian drones hit Novorossiysk, Anapa, Gelendzhik and the Temryuk district overnight, killing three (including an 8-year-old child) and wounding 24, with dozens of residential buildings damaged and debris falling on four industrial plants
- Two of Novorossiysk's three grain terminals were damaged in the attack, with one halting operations, according to Russian business daily Vedomosti
- Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defences downed more than 500 Ukrainian drones across the overnight raid, while 115 more were intercepted over Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula
- Zelenskyy claimed Putin is planning "an additional rapid mobilization of several hundred thousand Russians by the end of the year" based on Ukrainian intelligence, though no senior Russian officials have signalled a new call-up
- Putin threatened retaliation against Western nations boarding and detaining sanctioned Russian oil tankers, calling it "piracy and robbery" during a visit to a Russian warship taking part in a Pacific naval exercise
- Russia fired 138 long-range drones and an unspecified number of missiles at Ukraine overnight, destroying a shopping mall in Zaporizhzhia and killing two people in the Kherson region
Why it matters: Novorossiysk is the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's terminus for crude from three major Kazakh fields in which Chevron and ExxonMobil hold stakes — and the U.S. State Department told Ukraine in February that strikes on the port affected American oil interests. Putin's simultaneous threat of tit-for-tat ship seizures against the West raises the cost of any diplomatic off-ramp while Kyiv keeps hitting an asset Washington has flagged.
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