Russia’s Black Sea Tuapse oil refinery, owned by oil major Rosneft, was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack overnight, officials from the Krasnodar region said today.

Officials said the damage was caused from debris of a drone that was shot down by Russia sparked a fire at the refinery, which has since been contained. There were no casualties, the regional administration added.

It was not immediately clear if the refinery was operational or the extent of the damage it had sustained. Moscow rarely discloses the full scale of damage from Russian attacks.

Russia’s defence ministry earlier said its air defence systems destroyed 75 drones launched by Ukraine, including eight near the Tuapse.

The Tuapse refinery has been a target of several Ukrainian air attacks since the start of the war that Russia launched against its smaller neighbour in 2022.

Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 75 drones launched by Ukraine overnight, including eight near the town of Tuapse on the Black Sea where Russia’s oil major Rosneft has a refinery, the Russian defence ministry said this morning.

Of these, 47 drones were downed over the Rostov region in Russia’s southwest, 17 over the waters of the Black and Azov seas, eight over the Krasnodar region, where Tuapse is located, and single drones over the Belgorod, Voronezh and Smolensk region, the ministry said.

The ministry did not say whether its defence systems destroyed the drones, or whether the attack had caused any damage.

Sergei Boiko, head of the Tuapse district in the Krasnodar region, said on Telegram infrastructure and residential buildings had not been damaged.

Russian officials rarely disclose the full extent of damage inflicted by Ukrainian attacks. The Tuapse refinery has been a target of several Ukrainian air attacks since the start of the war that Russia launched against its smaller neighbour in 2022.

Russia’s SHOT and Mash Telegram news channels reported that a series of blasts were heard near the refinery early this morning.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kyiv has often said that the attacks on Russia’s military, energy and transport infrastructure are in response to Russia’s continuous attacks on Ukraine‘s territory.

Francisco Seco, based in Istanbul, enjoys making photos of daily life in cities around the world. This assignment, though, took The Associated Press photographer to Ukraine to document the toll Russia’s invasion of the country has had on the lives of athletes trying to train for the Paris Olympics, which starts next week. Here is what Seco had to say about making this extraordinary photo.

This photograph is part of a story about Ukrainian athletes who are going to participate in the Olympic Games this summer in Paris. Because of Russia’s full-scale invasion, many athletes are training outside Ukraine, but high jumper Oleh Doroshchuk is doing his training in the city of Kropyvnytskyi in central Ukraine. The city has been bombed a few times since the beginning of the war.

Our AP team joined Oleh for two days during his training sessions. On the second day, he trained in an open-air stadium, surrounded by other young athletes. A couple of times he had to stop his training because of the sound of anti-aircraft alarms.

The Ukrainian forces have received another Patriot system from Germany, president Volodymyr Zelensky said, thanking his allies for “more power for Ukraine”.

“The German Patriot system has arrived in Ukraine, and I extend my gratitude to Germany and the United States for this step. We will be able to do more in the skies. While much work remains ahead and this is far from guaranteed protection, nonetheless, it means more power for Ukraine,” he said in his nightly address yesterday, adding that it is likely ready for deployment.

He hinted at the countering of Russian missiles in the frontline update. “Today, the Commander of the Air Forces reported on the operations of our fire teams, the downing of ‘Shahed’ drones, and countering Russian missiles. We can now say that our air defence has been strengthened,” Mr Zelensky said.

Russia and Ukraine exchanged drone, missile and shelling attacks yesterday, killing at least two people in Ukrainian strikes on the partly Russian-occupied Donetsk region, Russian state media said.

Ukrainian officials said Russian strikes wounded at least five people. Along the frontline in the east, Russia said it had taken control of two villages, one in the Kharkiv region and one in the Luhansk region.

Ukrainian shelling of Russia-held areas of the Donetsk region killed two people in the village of Horlivka, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said.

Three people were wounded by Russian drone strikes in southern Ukraine‘s partly occupied Kherson region, local officials said yesterday morning. In the country’s northeast, officials in the Kharkiv region said two people were wounded when a village was hit by Russian shells.

Overnight into Sunday, Ukraine’s air defences intercepted 35 of the 39 drones launched by Russia, according to air force commander Mykola Oleschuk. In addition, Russia launched three ballistic missiles and two guided air missiles, which did not reach their targets, he said.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed yesterday that its troops had taken control of two villages: Pishchane Nizhne in the Kharkiv region and Andriivka, sometimes referred to as Rozivka, in the Luhansk region. Kyiv did not immediately comment.

Volodymyr Zelensky said he respected US president Joe Biden’s “tough but strong” decision to end his reelection campaign and not run for a second term.

“Ukraine is grateful to president Biden for his unwavering support for Ukraine’s fight for freedom, which, along with strong bipartisan support in the United States, has been and continues to be critical,” Mr Zelensky said.

“Many strong decisions have been made in recent years and they will be remembered as bold steps taken by President Biden in response to challenging times. And we respect today’s tough but strong decision.”

He added: “We will always be thankful for president Biden’s leadership. He supported our country during the most dramatic moment in history, assisted us in preventing Putin from occupying our country, and has continued to support us throughout this terrible war.”

“The current situation in Ukraine and all of Europe is no less challenging, and we sincerely hope that America’s continued strong leadership will prevent Russian evil from succeeding or making its aggression pay off,” the Ukrainian president said.