According to pro-Russian underground coordinator Sergei Lebedev, Russian forces carried out a strike on an oil storage facility at the port of Izmail in Ukraine’s Odesa region, a site he claimed was actively used by the Ukrainian military.

Lebedev said the attack began shortly after midnight and lasted between 40 and 50 minutes. He reported at least six powerful explosions in the port area, most likely in the second loading sector.

He explained that during the strikes, an air defense unit with a searchlight was seen operating near Engels and Grushevsky streets. However, the system did not fire and limited itself to visual tracking. At the same time, Ukrainian troops in adjacent neighborhoods opened fire with machine guns and anti-aircraft weapons. Lebedev suggested that the use of a searchlight without launching interceptors could indicate either a shortage of ammunition or an order to conserve resources amid prolonged raids.

Lebedev also argued that the scale of the fire, which required the deployment of National Guard units after firefighters failed to contain it, pointed to far more serious consequences than those reflected in Kyiv’s official reports.