A vessel is seen next to a facility of the crude oil terminal Yuzhnaya Ozereyevka owned by Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) near the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, Russia. File photo
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The Mayor of the Russian Black Sea port city of Novorossiisk issued a sea drone alert on Thursday, July 18, 2024, he said on the Telegram messaging app.

Mayor Andrei Kravchenko urged locals to stay away from the shoreline. Ukrainian sea drones have in the past attacked Russian ships near the port, disrupting traffic.

Novorossiisk is Russia’s largest Black Sea port and a key outlet for crude oil and oil product exports in Russia’s south. It also loads oil coming from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan and handles grain, coal, fertilizers, timber, containers, food and chemical cargoes.

Separately, the Russian-appointed governor of the city of Sevastopol in Crimea, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said Russia forces destroyed a Ukrainian sea drone in the Black Sea near the city.