Fire Extinguished at Russian Oil Refinery after Drone Attack

File phot: A still image from a video shows smoke rising following an alleged drone attack on oil depot in Sevastopol, Crimea, April 29, 2023. Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS
File phot: A still image from a video shows smoke rising following an alleged drone attack on oil depot in Sevastopol, Crimea, April 29, 2023. Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS
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Fire Extinguished at Russian Oil Refinery after Drone Attack

File phot: A still image from a video shows smoke rising following an alleged drone attack on oil depot in Sevastopol, Crimea, April 29, 2023. Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS
File phot: A still image from a video shows smoke rising following an alleged drone attack on oil depot in Sevastopol, Crimea, April 29, 2023. Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS

A drone attack set ablaze parts of an oil products reservoir at a refinery in southern Russia, but emergency services said they extinguished the fire just over two hours later, TASS news agency reported early on Thursday.

TASS said the incident occurred at the Ilsky refinery near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar region, Reuters said.

A day earlier, a fuel depot further to the west caught on fire near a bridge linking Russia's mainland with the occupied Crimea peninsula.

"A second turbulent night for our emergency services," Krasnodar governor Veniamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram, adding that tanks with oil products were on fire at the Ilsky refinery.

There were no casualties, he said, citing preliminary reports and he did not say how the fire started.

Ukraine rarely claims responsibility for what Moscow says are frequent drone strikes against infrastructure and military targets, particularly in regions close to Russia.

Moscow blamed Ukraine for an attack on April 29 that set fire to an oil depot in Sevastopol. Kyiv's military says undermining Russia's logistics is part of preparations for a long-expected counteroffensive.



The Conclave to Choose the Next Pope Will Be the Most Geographically Diverse in History

FILE - Italian Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, center, takes an oath at the beginning of the conclave to elect the next pope in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 18, 2005. (AP Photo/Osservatore Romano via AP, File)
FILE - Italian Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, center, takes an oath at the beginning of the conclave to elect the next pope in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 18, 2005. (AP Photo/Osservatore Romano via AP, File)
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The Conclave to Choose the Next Pope Will Be the Most Geographically Diverse in History

FILE - Italian Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, center, takes an oath at the beginning of the conclave to elect the next pope in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 18, 2005. (AP Photo/Osservatore Romano via AP, File)
FILE - Italian Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, center, takes an oath at the beginning of the conclave to elect the next pope in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 18, 2005. (AP Photo/Osservatore Romano via AP, File)

There is no rule that cardinals electing a new pope vote a certain way according to their nationality or region. But understanding their makeup in geographic terms can help explain some of their priorities as they open the conclave Wednesday to choose a new leader of the 1.4-billion strong Catholic Church.

A cardinal who heads the Vatican’s liturgy office might have a very different set of concerns from the archbishop of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. A cardinal who runs a large European archdiocese with hundreds of priests likely has other priorities than the Vatican ambassador ministering to war-torn Syria or the archbishop of Managua, Nicaragua, whose church has been under siege by the government.

There are currently 135 cardinals who are under age 80 and eligible to vote in the conclave, hailing from 71 different countries in the most geographically diverse conclave in history. Already two have formally told the Holy See that they cannot attend for health reasons, bringing the number of men who will enter the Sistine Chapel down to 133.

A two-thirds majority is needed to be elected pope, meaning that if the number of electors holds at 133, the winner must secure 89 votes.

The countries with the most electors are: Italy (17), United States (10), Brazil (7), France and Spain (5), Argentina, Canada, India, Poland and Portugal (4).

Here is a regional breakdown of the full 135 cardinal electors, according to Vatican statistics and following the Vatican’s geographic grouping.

Europe: 53. (An elector who says he's skipping the conclave is from Spain, so the actual number of Europeans is expected to be 52.)

Asia (including the Middle East): 23

Africa: 18. (Another elector who says he's skipping the conclave is from Kenya, so the number of Africans is expected to be 17.)

South America: 17

North America: 16 (of whom 10 are American, 4 are Canadian and 2 are Mexican)

Central America: 4

Oceania: 4 (1 each from Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Tonga)