Partisans disable Russian air defenses near Novorossiysk ahead of Ukraine’s strike

Agents of the Atesh partisan movement reportedly disabled Russian radar systems in Novorossiysk ahead of a Ukrainian Defense Forces strike on the largest oil storage facility in the Caucasus, leaving Russian air defenses unable to respond to incoming targets.

According to Ukrinform, Atesh reported this on Telegram.

“Agents of our movement carried out a series of sabotage operations targeting communications and energy infrastructure in the Novorossiysk area on the eve of the Ukrainian Defense Forces’ strike on the Grushevaya Balka oil depot on the night of May 23,” the statement said.

Atesh described Grushevaya Balka as the largest oil storage facility in the Caucasus, with a capacity of 1.2 million tons of petroleum products. The facility is used for the storage, distribution, and transfer of fuel for Russian military equipment, the navy, and army logistics operations in southern Russia.

“Our people disabled several communication towers that coordinated air defense units in the area and damaged a transformer substation supplying electricity to part of the military and communications infrastructure. Without power, large stationary radar systems lost stable operation. UAV reconnaissance on the approaches to Novorossiysk was effectively blinded, and air defense units lost the ability to respond in time to low-flying targets,” Atesh stated.

Media reports said that drone attacks in Novorossiysk caused fires at the Sheskharis terminal and an oil depot.

As reported by Ukrinform, agents of the Atesh partisan movement also carried out sabotage on a railway section in Russia’s Lipetsk region, destroying a freight electric locomotive used to support military transportation for the Russian armed forces.