Drones attack port in Russia's Makhachkala – photos, videos

Drones attacked a port in Russia's Makhachkala on the night of 9-10 September, with local residents reporting explosions in the city.

Source: Russian media outlet Astra; Fyodor Shchukin, acting head of the Republic of Dagestan; Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channel Exilenova+

Details: People in local chat groups began reporting explosions overnight. Residents also reported that there had been no air-raid warning and that Russian air defence was responding.

Russian Telegram channels claimed that the Makhachkala Commercial Sea Port may have been the target and that it was probably hit.

The port is the only ice-free deep-water Russian port on the Caspian Sea. It operates all year round and handles both liquid and dry cargo. On 1 September, Russian authorities reported a record volume of grain handled by the port, with more than 2.9 million tonnes processed in the first eight months of the year. Around 1.83 million tonnes of liquid cargo were handled.

The dry cargo harbour has a transshipment complex, quays for general and bulk cargo and containers, a rail and car ferry terminal and a grain terminal.

The port has six berths with a total length of more than 900 metres, allowing six vessels to be handled simultaneously. The commercial sea port also operates its own transport fleet.

An explosion also occurred at a local theatre during the attack.

The Dagestan authorities officially claimed that Russian air defence had destroyed all aerial assets over Makhachkala.

They said that falling debris had caused fires at port infrastructure and the Gamzat Tsadasa Avar Music and Drama Theatre, but that the fires had been quickly extinguished.

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