Ukraine hits tankers in Black Sea in escalation against Russia
Ukrainian officials said that Ukrainian navy unmanned aerial vehicles hit two oil tankers belonging to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” sailing in the Black Sea.
Footage confirmed by the BBC shows drones in the water quickly moving through the waves towards ships, then turning into a ball of fire and sending black smoke into the air.
The targeted tankers were named by Turkish authorities as Gambian-flagged Kairos and Virat. Both were reportedly shot dead off the Turkish coast on Friday, while Virat was shot again on Saturday. There was no loss of life.
The attacks appear to be carried out by Kiev, which is trying to hit Russia’s oil revenues, which are critical to financing its war in Ukraine.
The two ships are reportedly part of Russia’s “shadow fleet,” which refers to the hundreds of tankers Russia uses to evade Western sanctions imposed after a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The shadow fleet consists largely of older tankers, many of which have unclear ownership or insurance.
Kairos was shot in the southwestern region of the Black Sea, while Virat was shot further east in a central region. According to London Stock Exchange data, both are on the list of ships subject to sanctions.
Sources told BBC Ukraine that the Sea Baby drone, a type of seaplane known as an SBU produced by Ukraine’s security services, was used in the attack.
Turkish officials said they were assisting the ships and released images of two Turkish boats trying to extinguish the fire in Kairos.
The attacks are seen by Ukraine as a warning and mean that ships carrying Russian oil in the Black Sea are at risk of direct attack, not just Western sanctions.
Separately, a major consortium transporting oil from the Caspian region said it had suspended loading at Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk following an overnight attack by unmanned boats.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium said the attack caused serious damage at the anchorage. The main shareholders of the company, which is also partially owned by Western companies such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Shell, are Russia and Kazakhstan.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that a delegation led by senior security official Rustam Umerov was heading to the United States to continue talks on an agreement to end the war.
Umerov is set to lead the Ukrainian delegation after the previous chief negotiator, Zelensky’s influential private secretary Andriy Yermak, resigned in the wake of anti-corruption detectives called his apartment on Friday.
The Ukrainian delegation is expected to meet with American officials in Florida on Sunday. US President Donald Trump’s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff will hold talks in Moscow next week.
