Ukraine drone attack damages Russian tanker near Crimea

It was the latest attack around the Black Sea since Moscow exited a deal last month that had protected Ukrainian grain exports despite the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

“Overnight the (Ukrainian Security Service) SBU blew up the ‘SIG’, a large oil tanker belonging to the Russian Federation that was transporting fuel for Russian troops,” the Ukrainian source said.

The tanker SIG was hit at around 11:20 pm (2020 GMT) on Friday south of the Kerch Strait, Russia’s Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport said.

The ship suffered a hole at the waterline in the area of the engine room but is afloat, the agency said.

In a video obtained by AFP purporting to show the attack, a vessel is seen approaching a large ship before the connection cuts off.

The Ukrainian source said the “successful special operation”, which involved a naval drone and explosives, was carried out jointly with the navy in Ukrainian territorial waters.

The ship was “well-loaded with fuel, so the ‘fireworks’ could be seen from afar”, it added.

The oil and chemical tanker is under US sanctions for supplying jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria who are supporting President Bashar al-Assad.

– Threat of ‘environmental disaster’ –

The Russian foreign ministry condemned the attack on a “civilian vessel, which not only threatened to kill its crew but also posed the risk of a large-scale environmental disaster”.

The ministry said the crew was not injured and repair works are underway.

Traffic on a key bridge across the Kerch Strait linking the Moscow-annexed Crimea peninsula to Russia’s mainland resumed early on Saturday after a three-hour halt, according to the Russian highways information centre’s Telegram channel.

Crimea has been disrupted by several strikes throughout the war but it has seen more frequent attacks in recent weeks. 

Russian forces on Saturday downed a drone over the sea near Sevastopol, city governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said. 

Ukrainian drone strikes on Crimea in July blew up an ammunition depot and damaged the strategic bridge across the Kerch Strait.

Tensions have risen on the Black Sea overall since Russia pulled out of an agreement protecting exports via the shipping hub during the conflict.

Ukraine on Friday struck the Olenegorsky Gornyak vessel at the Novorossiysk base in southern Russia, a Ukrainian security source told AFP, “to show that Ukraine can attack any Russian warship in that zone”.

Russia said it had repelled the attempted attack.

On Saturday, Russia said it intercepted a US Reaper MQ-9 military drone over the Black Sea, as incidents involving Russian and Western aircraft have multiplied over the Black Sea and Baltic Sea during the offensive in Ukraine.  

– Frontline fighting –

On the front line, Russia said it had captured the settlement of Novoselivske in northeastern Ukraine, where Kyiv said it was confronted with a growing number of attacks. 

Footage from the Russian army showed Novoselivske completely destroyed, with white smoke billowing over crumbling buildings. 

Ukrainian army spokeswoman Ganna Malyar said on Friday that Russian troops were aiming to draw Ukrainian resources to the east, as Ukraine pursues its counter-offensive in the south.

Ukraine began a new counter-offensive in June but it has made only modest progress, its forces contending with well-entrenched Russian defensive positions built up over several months.

With both sides focused on winning on the battlefield, any chance to secure peace looks thin.

Still, Saudi Arabia is hosting talks on the war with representatives from nearly 40 countries — including China, India and South Africa — but not Russia. 

Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said the session would “not be easy” given the range of countries represented but “our task is to unite the whole world around Ukraine”.

brw/imm

Originally published as Ukraine drone attack damages Russian tanker near Crimea