Ukrainian drones strike Russian tanker after warship hit

Ukrainian drones hit a Russian tanker in the Black Sea near Crimea late Friday night, according to Russian officials and video circulating on social media.

The strike was the second sea attack involving drones in one day, after Ukraine struck a major Russian port earlier on Friday in an attack that underlined Kyiv's growing naval capabilities as the Black Sea becomes an increasingly important battleground in the war.

The attacks follow Russian strikes on Ukrainian ports after Moscow nearly three weeks ago withdrew from a key grain-export agreement that allowed Ukraine to sell millions of tons of grain on world markets.

"The Sig tanker … suffered a hole in the engine room near the waterline on the starboard side, presumably as a result of a sea drone attack," Russia's Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport wrote on Telegram, noting that there were no casualties among the 11 crew members.

Vladimir Rogov, a Kremlin-installed official in Ukraine's partially occupied southern Zaporizhzhia region, said several members of the ship's crew were wounded because of broken glass.

Fuel transport

An official with Ukraine's Security Service confirmed to The Associated Press that the service was behind the attack on the tanker, which was transporting fuel for Russian forces. A sea drone, filled with 450 kilograms of TNT, was used for the attack, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give official statements.

Without specifying that Ukraine was responsible for the drone strike, Vasyl Malyuk, who leads Ukraine's Security Service, said that "such special operations are conducted in the territorial waters of Ukraine and are completely legal."

Any such explosions, he said, are "an absolutely logical and effective step with regard to the enemy."

The attack briefly halted traffic on the Kerch Bridge, the 19-kilometre bridge linking Moscow-annexed Crimea to Russia, as well as ferry transport.

Tugboats were deployed to assist the tanker, which is under United States sanctions for helping provide jet fuel to Russian forces fighting in Syria, according to Russia's Tass news agency.

Earlier Friday, a Ukrainian drone attack seriously damaged a Russian warship at the country's Black Sea navy base at Novorossiysk.

Video footage verified by Reuters showed the Olenegorsky Gornyak, a naval landing ship, being towed to shore by a tug, listing heavily to its port side.

Ukraine's earlier strike on Novorossiysk halted maritime traffic for a few hours and marked the first time a commercial Russian port has been targeted in the nearly 18-month-old conflict. The port has a naval base, shipbuilding yards and an oil terminal, and is key for exports. It is located about 110 kilometres east of Crimea.

Russian attacks may increase

Shipping expert Jayendu Krishna told The Associated Press that the attacks left Russian shipping activity "largely unaffected."

He believes that they may increase the risk of Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports rather than serving as a tool to put pressure on Russia to halt attacks and reinstate the grain deal.

"Every time anything happens to Russia, you see Putin in retaliation mode … therefore, you may see further attacks on other parts of Ukraine," Krishna said.

"I think it will probably compound the effect and compound the risk in the Black Sea, rather than reducing it," he said. "It's very difficult for me to imagine that Russia will give in, unless and until their banks have smooth operations, and they're able to export their own cargo uninterruptedly."

A Telegram post on Saturday by Deputy Chair of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev implied that Russia would increase its attacks against Ukrainian ports in response to Kyiv's attacks on Russian ships in the Black Sea:

"Apparently, the strikes on Odesa, Izmail, and other places were not enough for them," he wrote.