Ukraine attacks Russian ‘shadow’ tanker off Libyan coast | Ukraine

Ukraine said it attacked a Russian “shadow fleet” tanker from the air with drones 1,250 miles (2,000 km) from its borders, in the first attack in the Mediterranean since Moscow’s full-scale invasion nearly four years ago.

Friday’s attack off the Libyan coast, which reportedly caused critical damage, took place on the day of Vladimir Putin’s annual year-end press conference in which he said Russia would respond to recent Ukrainian attacks on shadow fleet tankers.

This comes amid an escalating naval conflict over the shadow fleet, a term used by Russia, Iran and Venezuela to describe ships used to evade sanctions through deceptive practices.

Kiev has previously targeted Russian shadow tankers in the Black Sea as it seeks to disrupt a key source of revenue used to finance Moscow’s illegal occupation.

The fleet, estimated to number more than 1,000 unidentified ships that change flags frequently, has enabled Moscow to continue exporting crude oil for much-needed revenue despite the restrictions.

Experts and some European leaders believe some of the ships are being used by Russia to wage hybrid warfare on the continent.

Commenting on the latest attack on Friday, Putin said Russia would “definitely respond” to attacks on Ukraine’s so-called stay-behind fleet. “Ultimately this will not lead to the expected outcome,” he said. “It will not disrupt any supplies, it will only create additional threats,” he said, without commenting directly on the latest attack in the Mediterranean.

The Russian leader has previously threatened to cut off Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea in response to attacks on tankers that he described as piracy. He was speaking at his annual summoned demonstration to the nation, a carefully choreographed event that has become a fixture on Russia’s political calendar.

The marathon broadcast, which lasts more than four hours, allows journalists and carefully selected members of the public to ask questions directly to the president, projecting an image of openness while the agenda is kept tightly under control.

A source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said Friday’s attack was a “new, unprecedented special operation.” But they did not provide further details about the attack, including how the SBU deployed a UAV in the Mediterranean, where it was launched from, or which countries the UAVs might have flown over.

The source said the cargo ship was empty at the time and there was no environmental threat from the operation. The Ukrainian official did not explain how the drones reached the ship, but said that the operation involved “multi-stage” measures.

They claimed that the tanker, identified as Qendil, “suffered critical damage and could not be used for its intended purpose.” They claimed the tanker was used to circumvent Western sanctions and finance Russia’s war chest, making it an “absolutely legitimate target”.

“The enemy must understand that Ukraine will not stop and will hit them wherever they are in the world,” the source said.

British maritime risk management group Vanguard said: “This development reflects a sharp increase in Ukraine’s use of uncrewed aerial systems against naval assets associated with Russia’s sanctioned oil export network.”

Speaking to the online publication Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian official justified the strike. “This tanker was used to evade sanctions and earn money used in the war against Ukraine. Therefore, from the point of view of international law and the laws and customs of war, this is an absolutely legitimate target for the SBU. The enemy must understand that Ukraine will not stop and will defeat it anywhere in the world, wherever it is.”

According to Vessel Finder, the tanker last arrived at the Egyptian port of Suez on December 16 and was off the coast of Libya when it returned.

After two empty oil tankers were hit by explosions, Kiev claimed that Russian tankers on Türkiye’s Black Sea coast were similarly hit.

The Ukrainian attacks follow increasingly aggressive efforts by some countries to crack down on shadow fleet activities.

This month, US forces boarded a sanctions-hit shadow tanker off the coast of Venezuela, and the Trump administration announced it would blockade other shadow tankers in the country as part of Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to force regime change.

European countries have also stepped up efforts against shadow tankers operating in their waters amid growing concerns about safety and environmental threats posed by aging ships that often travel without automatic identification systems to avoid tracking.

At the press conference, Putin expressed his customary tough stance on the war in Ukraine, reiterating the Kremlin’s determination to continue fighting until all conditions are met.

The Russian leader emphasized that Moscow had no plans to invade Europe and added that there would be no new “special military operation” provided that Russia was treated with respect and “not deceived”. Putin also called the use of frozen Russian central bank assets to finance Ukraine’s reconstruction a “robbery” and added that Moscow would resort to legal action and “find an appropriate jurisdiction” in any case.