Educational institutions in Sochi and Anapa have changed their hours due to drone attacks.
Authorities in two Kuban resort towns have changed the operating hours of educational institutions due to increased drone attack threats. For Sochi, the March 11 attack was unprecedented in its duration.
"Caucasian Knot" reported that on March 11, drone debris hit multi-story buildings in Anapa and Sochi and the courtyard of a multi-story building in Krasnodar. According to authorities, there were no casualties. On March 12, due to the drone attack threat, classes were canceled at schools, kindergartens, and universities in Anapa. According to the Ministry of Defense, 30 drones were shot down in the skies over the Krasnodar Territory on the night of March 12.
Starting March 13, Anapa will introduce free attendance at kindergartens, schools, and other educational institutions. All educational institutions will operate as usual, but parents will decide whether a student will attend classes, announced Mayor Svetlana Maslova.
The measure is prompted by "increased drone threats," the official noted. The free attendance regime applies to all educational institutions, including supplementary education institutions. Parents are required to notify teachers if they decide to keep their child at home. Students will receive independent study materials and homework.
Maslova noted that if a child remains at home, parents are responsible for ensuring their safety. "Children staying at home, especially alone, isn't always safer than being in school. All our educational institutions are prepared for emergency situations. Staff have been trained and briefed, know how to act in the event of a threat, buildings have safe areas, and maximum safety measures are in place for children," she wrote on her Telegram channel.
The Sochi administration has also taken special measures to ensure children's safety. On March 11, Mayor Andrei Proshunin instructed the heads of municipal enterprises and organizations to relax work regulations for employees with children under 12. "Where the work process allows, they will be able to stay home with their children until the official lifting of the state of emergency. Mothers with small children taking their children to kindergarten should not be allowed to be out in large numbers on the streets during a drone threat," he wrote on his Telegram channel.
Sochi experienced an unprecedentedly long attack
Later that day, Proshunin stated that the city faced "an attack of unprecedented duration" – the threat of drone strikes persisted for more than a day, with only a short break. He noted that the heads of universities located in the city had transferred students to remote classes. The official instructed all municipal educational institutions to implement remote learning on days of drone attacks.
The longest aerial attack on Sochi ended with an all-clear late in the evening of March 11. Taking into account two waves and a short respite, the threat lasted 30 hours and 22 minutes, and the actual time under threat was 17 hours and 26 minutes, SochiStream reports.
The publication noted that during this period, airports in the region collapsed: flight restrictions were imposed three times at Sochi Airport, lasting a total of more than 17 hours, while airports in Krasnodar and Gelendzhik were "idle for almost a day." "Passengers stuck in the terminals lost track of time—people were being accommodated in hotels; in the Adler district alone, about 400 people received rooms," the publication stated.
Planes flying to Sochi from various cities were diverted to alternate airfields. Several flights, including from Yekaterinburg, Kazan, and Ufa, landed in Makhachkala, with the Yekaterinburg flight departing with a 12-hour delay, according to "Ostorozhno Novosti."
On the afternoon of March 12, the airport resumed scheduled flights. "All aircraft diverted to alternate airfields arrived at Sochi Airport, were serviced, and dispatched to their destinations," the Adler administration's Telegram channel reported.
The Defense Ministry and Gazprom have identified the targets of the attack
The attacks in Kuban targeted gas transportation infrastructure facilities, including the Russkaya, Begovaya, and Kazachya compressor stations, Gazprom announced on March 11. According to the company, the company's facilities were attacked 12 times over the course of two weeks, beginning on February 24.
"These facilities are critical energy infrastructure and ensure the reliability of gas exports via the Turkish Stream and Blue Stream pipelines," Gazprom's Telegram channel reported.
The Russkaya compressor station is located in the Anapa district of Krasnodar Krai, in a mountainous area five kilometers from the coast. This is the "starting point for gas deliveries" via the Turkish Stream pipeline, RBC reports, citing Gazprom materials.
The Russian Ministry of Defense, for its part, stated that the attacks on the Russkaya compressor station infrastructure in the town of Gai-Kodzor were aimed at disrupting gas supplies to European consumers. According to the ministry, at least 14 drones also attempted to attack the Beregovaya compressor station near Tuapse, which operates the Blue Stream pipeline.