Operations at the Russian port of Olya in Astrakhan have been paralysed for a week following a Ukrainian drone attack on the night of 14-15 August.

Source: The Moscow Times, an independent Amsterdam-based news outlet

Details: Sources cited by the Telegram channel VChK-OGPU say the strike damaged both port infrastructure and the customs facility, forcing a complete halt to operations at the Caspian Sea hub.

“In addition to hitting a cargo ship – photos of which showing it in a half-sunken state have been circulated on social media – the UAVs destroyed the maritime customs office and port infrastructure. No logistics operations with Iran and Türkiye have been carried out at the facility for several days,” the report said.

A traffic jam of vessels awaiting loading and unloading has formed near the port, the sources added.

Ukraine’s General Staff reported that Special Operations Forces carried out the strike. They noted that the Port Olya-4 dry cargo ship was carrying Shahed drone components and munitions from Iran.

On 20 August, satellite images appeared online showing the damaged vessel being lifted with the help of tugs and cranes.

The port of Olya, located in the Volga Delta, has six berths and an annual cargo terminal capacity of 1.5 million tonnes.

It serves as a key hub in the transport corridor between Russia and Iran, used to ship food products as well as weapons supplies, according to Bloomberg reports in late 2024.

Background:

On 14 August, Ukrainian Special Operations Forces, together with other units of the defence forces, struck the port, hitting the port of Olya in Russia’s Astrakhan Oblast. The vessel Port Olya-4 was loaded with Shahed drone components and Iranian munitions.On the night of 13-14 August, Ukrainian forces also targeted the Volgograd oil refinery supplying fuel to the Russian forces.Earlier, on 2 August, explosions were reported across several Russian regions during drone attacks that caused fires at oil refineries, blasts at electronics plants, and damage near a military airfield.

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