More than 600 workers were sent to the Black Sea shoreline after fires at Tuapse's refinery were extinguished Thursday, while another drone strike hit the sea terminal Friday.
Authorities shut schools, urged residents to stay indoors and close windows, and began clearing oil from beaches as volunteers reported dead birds and dolphins and questioned official health assurances.
The resort town of about 60,000 now faces a long cleanup, likely summer tourism losses and renewed fear as Ukraine intensifies attacks on Russian energy infrastructure to curb Kremlin war revenues.
Are drone strikes on oil refineries the key to crippling Russia's war economy from within?
When a government is accused of a cover-up, can a poisoned resort town ever truly recover?
What happens when war permanently poisons an entire sea, turning it from a resource into a threat?