Sanctions haven’t sidelined Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers. So Ukraine has turned to drones

ukrayina strikes deuce Russian tankers with drones

ukrayina says it used sea drones to walk out two oil tankers that are part of Russia’s sanctioned shadow fleet and were a few dozen kilometres off the coast of Turkey.

The Gambian-flagged ships Kairos and Virat sustained explosions Friday evening after crews told Turkish officials the boats had been struck.

Kairos, which was headed to the Russian port of Novorossiysk, was partially engulfed in flames, and all 25 crew members were evacuated to safety. The crew on board Virat reported it had been hit twice and sustained what appeared to be minor damage. Neither vessel was carrying a shipment of crude at the time.

In an interview with Turkish broadcaster NTV, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, Turkey's transport and infrastructure minister, said the incidents happened within the country’s exclusive economic zone.

He said authorities were in contact with their counterparts to prevent a recurrence and to ensure navigational safety. He did not provide further details.

In a statement, an official with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said the attacks on the two ships were carried out by the SBU and the Ukrainian navy using “sea baby” drones, which can travel long distances and are equipped with reinforced warheads.

It released a video that purports to show the strikes on the vessels, using images captured from cameras affixed on the drones.

Both ships were sanctioned by the U.K. And the European Union. The Virat, which was built in 2018, was also sanctioned by Canada.

Despite multiple rounds of sanctions levied by Western governments against Russia's shadow fleet, the vessels continue to transport Russian crude, fuelling Moscow’s economy and its ability to fund its almost four-year-old war on Ukraine.

“The Russian shadow fleet has become almost a tumour on global shipping,” said Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's Transatlantic Security Initiative.

“The shadow fleet has grown exponentially, and Western governments have tried sanctioning specific vessels ... But every time that happens, another vessel enters the shadow fleet."

Braw said the ships, which tend to be older and frequently disguise their movement, often change their names and the countries to which they're registered. They will typically carry “flags of convenience," she said.

"Countries that have no experience or minimal experience in maritime matters, countries like The Gambia, the Cook Islands, have started flagging shadow vessels."

When sanctioned, ships aren’t granted Western personal and indemnity insurance and are not allowed to call on certain ports.

Tension has been high in the Black Sea since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 22, 2024. Merchant ships have sustained damage in attacks on Ukrainian ports and after inadvertently striking underwater mines.

In recent months, Kyiv has stepped up its strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure, including the port of Novorossiysk, which was hit overnight.

On Saturday, Ukraine said it had also hit Russia's Afipsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) said one of its mooring points at Novorossiysk was severely damaged.

The CPC is an energy transportation network that takes crude from western Kazakhstan to a Russian terminal on the Black Sea.

Ukraine's attack came around the same time that Moscow launched three dozen missiles and hundreds of drones across Ukraine, killing at least three in Kyiv.

Foreign Correspondent

---

---