Ukraine Allegedly Targets Russia

Ukraine has reportedly attacked several oil tankers off the coasts of Türkiye and West Africa in a campaign against the so-called Russian regime shadow fleetmonths after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on kyiv’s partners to strengthen their response to the ships that Moscow uses to evade international sanctions and continue selling its natural resources.

Ukraine has previously attacked fuel tankers and infrastructure in Russian ports and on land as part of its efforts to undermine Moscow’s crucial source of war financing, but recent attacks reported by Ukrainian media, citing the country’s intelligence agencies, have taken place outside Russia’s territorial waters.

Europe and the United States have sanctioned hundreds of ships in the shadow fleet, accusing them of violating bans on the sale of Russian oil, of transporting stolen Ukrainian grain and even suspected of spying or Damage underwater telecommunications cables and pipes..

In October, Zelenskyy said kyiv’s intelligence service was providing information to its European partners and “expects efforts to counter Russian interference to be significantly strengthened.”

On Tuesday, the sanctioned tanker Kairos was stranded off the coast of NATO member Bulgaria after a Turkish tugboat that had been towing it from Turkey’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea became separated from the ship in Bulgarian waters, according to Bulgaria’s state news agency BTA.

Kairos and another sanctioned tanker, the Virat, were hit by Ukrainian “Sea Baby” drones in the Black Sea in separate attacks in late November, according to independent Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske, which cited sources from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

Sea Baby drones attacked the two sanctioned oil tankers in the Black Sea in a joint operation between the SBU’s 13th Main Directorate of Military Counterintelligence and the Ukrainian Navy, SBU sources told News themezone.

“The SBU continues to take active measures to limit Russia’s financial capabilities to wage war against Ukraine,” an SBU source said. “Sea Baby naval drones disabled ships that could transport nearly $70 million worth of oil and helped the Kremlin bypass international sanctions.

Publicly available ship tracking data corroborated the BTA report suggesting that the Turkish tug had separated from the tanker six miles off the coast of Bulgaria. The Kairos was stranded on Tuesday off Ahtopol, on Bulgaria’s southern Black Sea coast, without heat or electricity, according to BTA.

The Bulgarian Navy airlifted several crew members to shore, but authorities had been unable to tow the tanker to safety as of Tuesday due to poor weather conditions.

Late last month, the technical director of another tanker, the Mersin, said the ship was hit by a series of explosions while anchored off the coast of Senegal. The crew was rescued, according to Senegalese officials, and the ship’s technical director, Besiktas Shipping, said seawater flooded the engine room, but the ship remained “safe” and posed no safety or navigation risks.

However, the Mersin remained stranded with some 30,000 tons of diesel fuel on board, according to think tank African Security Analysis.

The tanker departed the Russian port of Taman on August 21 and arrived in Senegal in late September, where it remained anchored, according to open source data from MarineTraffic. While the Mersin is not currently among the vessels sanctioned by the United States, vessels operated by BesiktasShipping have engaged in high-risk ship-to-ship crude oil transfers while anchored, according to sanctions compliance monitoring organization OpenSanctions.

The video circulating on social media, dated November 30, shows the sinking of the Mersin. News themezone has not confirmed the source of the video, but the name of the partially submerged tanker is visible in the clip, apparently recorded from a passing ship.

Ukrainian officials have not publicly confirmed any involvement in any of the explosions in the Black Sea or off the coast of Africa, all of which occurred within a few days. On December 3, Besiktas Shipping said it would immediately cease all “Russia-related voyages.”

While insisting that it has always complied and complies with restrictions on Russian oil shipments, the company said that “the security situation in the region has increased considerably” and “we have concluded that the risks posed to our ships and crews have become unsustainable.”

European nations have imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on hundreds of vessels they say are part of Russia’s shadow fleet, but a planned EU-wide measure to allow national authorities to board and inspect suspicious vessels has yet to materialize.

Shadow fleet vessels have also been linked to drone sightings at European airports, including last week when Unidentified drones violated Irish airspace during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The EU and the United States’ European allies in NATO have increasingly issued warnings about the alleged hybrid warfare tactics in recent months, including drone incursions into airspace and sabotage operations throughout the continent and at sea.