A Ukrainian naval drone struck a Russian oil tanker on Saturday off the occupied Crimean Peninsula, the second Ukrainian sea drone attack to hit Russian ships in the Black Sea in two days, Ukrainian officials said and Russian.
The tanker’s engine room was damaged, but the vessel remained afloat, with no oil spill and no crew injuries, Russia’s Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport. said on its Telegram channel. Vasyl Mayuk, the head of Ukraine’s Security Service, said that Ukraine was responsible for the attack and that Kyiv forces would continue to attack any ship that was helping Russia’s war effort.
The tanker was near the Kerch Strait Bridge, an important connection for Russia to the Crimean Peninsula, which has been under Russian occupation since 2014. Mr. Malyuk said Ukraine’s attack on the bridge would continue until it fully withdrew. the Russian forces from the lands of Ukraine.
Russia accused Ukraine of attacking the bridge itself in July, also with sea drones.
Saturday’s attack was a continuation of Ukraine’s challenge to Moscow’s control of the Black Sea. A day earlier, the country’s forces demonstrated the expanding reach of their vessels by ramming a Russian naval vessel near the Russian port of Novorossiysk, more than 400 miles by sea from the nearest which coast is held by Ukraine.
The Russian agency said the ship that was damaged on Saturday was the oil and chemical tanker Sig, and that it was approaching the Kerch Strait Bridge from the south with a crew of 11. Rybar, a popular Russian pro-war blog, said the tanker is returning from delivering oil to Syria.
On Friday morning near Novorossiysk, a Russian shipping and naval hub on the northeastern Black Sea coast, a naval drone appeared to crash into a Ropucha-class landing ship that was later found listed on its port side in the photo and video verified by The New York Times.
Three Ukrainian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters, said the attack on Novorossiysk was carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Navy.
