UKRAINE hit Russia with one of the heaviest bombardments of the war so far as over 100 drones blitzed three key ports.
Explosions lit up the sky last night in Novorossiysk, Sevastopol and Tuapse as the cities were plunged into darkness and fires still raged this morning.
There was a near-total failure of Russian air defences to stall the mass attack on Novorossiysk.
Locals reported the sounds of at least 40 explosions, while a top official ordered residents: "No one leaves the house. Neither to school, nor to work."
Remarkable footage showed multiple loudly-buzzing Ukrainian kamikaze drones attacking an oil depot and port facilities in Novorossiysk at around 3am.
Reports suggested public transportation was not running, with traffic closed on some streets and local schools temporarily shut.
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One observer said: "The port was blown up! Our port was blown up!"
Both the Novorossiysk fuel oil terminal and the Transneft terminal were attacked.
Novorossiysk is Vladimir Putin’s premier naval port in the Black Sea after most of his warships were driven out of Sevastopol in occupied Crimea by Ukrainian attacks.
Russian defenders appeared to have been surprised by the attack.
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Sevastopol was also under attack as drones buzzed above the city and explosions were heard as a power plant was hit, causing partial power cuts.
A major oil refinery was blitzed in the port and resort of Tuapse causing a large inferno.
Footage showed the moment in the early morning light as a drone flew across the sky and struck the refinery which was already burning from an earlier hit.
The state-owned Rosneft facility is Russia’s only oil refinery on the Black Sea, and one of the ten largest in the country.
Bursts of machine gun fire were heard in a failed bid to stop the kamikaze drones - followed by three explosions as they hit the target.
Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Kremlin-appointed governor of Sevastopol, claimed to have "successfully repelled a massive enemy attack” on the naval port, which serves as headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
He said "dozens" of aerial drones and "more than five sea drones were destroyed."
Power cuts in Sevastopol plunged the port city into darkness and Mr Razvozhaev declared classes in all schools, secondary vocational education institutions, and kindergartens were cancelled.
Russia admitted it faced more than 100 drones in the overnight onslaught which came as Putin, 71, was on his official visit to China along with his new defence minister Andrey Belousov, 65.
In an inauspicious start for the new defence chief, satellite evidence has shown Ukrainian claims made this week over the substantial destruction of Belbek airbase in Crimea were correct.
Two days of MGM-140 ATACMS cluster missile attacks by Ukraine destroyed Russian jets - including MiG-31s and one Su-27 - and a military warehouse for fuel and lubricants.
Reports indicated an aerial missile store was also targeted.
The successful blitz of Belbek has led to fury among Russian war-backers over the back of air defence at the key base.
It came as Kyiv was under pressure from Russian territorial gains in the Kharkiv region.
The US is rushing military aid to Ukraine to ramp up its defence after Putin amassed more than half a million troops on the frontline.
Ukrainian fighters had to withdraw in some parts of the country as Putin's forces advanced on two fronts deep inside Ukrainian territory.
Kyiv's military said it was sending more troops to Kharkiv to stave off Russian advances, where the Kremlin claims to have captured a number of villages.
The military previously admitted it was struggling to contain Russia's advance in the northeast of the country - but there are now some signs the progress of Putin's forces has slowed.
Moscow has claimed without proof that 35 Ukrainian officers and 20 soldiers were killed in an Iskander missile strike on a camouflaged command post of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Kharkiv.
It showed footage of its helicopter battles to halt Ukrainian marine drone attacks on occupied Crimea.
In Tuapse, regional head Sergei Boyko said: "Early in the morning of May 17, the Kyiv regime attempted a terrorist attack using two UAVs on civilian infrastructure in Tuapse.
"As a result of the fall of the device, a fire occurred at the oil refinery.
"Special services began extinguishing the fire. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties."
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In Belgorod, also under Ukrainian fire, a petrol station was hit.
A drone reportedly hit a car, killing a woman and her child.