Russia considers placing troops, weapons on civilian ships as it struggles to protect shadow fleet, Zelensky says
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Russia is considering arming civilian vessels with small arms and electronic warfare equipment and deploying military personnel aboard them amid difficulties protecting its shadow fleet, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 28, citing a report by military intelligence chief Oleh Ivashchenko.
Russia relies on a vast shadow fleet of aging tankers operating under opaque ownership structures and flags of convenience to export oil and petroleum products despite Western sanctions.
The Kremlin is considering these measures because the Russian navy can no longer safely escort Russian vessels to its Black Sea ports, according to Zelensky.
Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) assessed that Ukrainian drone strikes have effectively confined Russian warships to the port of Novorossiysk on the southeastern Black Sea, Zelensky added.
Some segments of Russia's exports have declined by as much as 80% in August, according to Zelensky.
"These are significant losses for the Russian federal budget, as well as for regional budgets, which were already on the brink of bankruptcy," Zelensky said.
Zelensky added that Ukraine would also take its own measures in response to the militarization of civilian shipping, without providing further details.
The president also praised recent Ukrainian deep strikes, saying attacks on the Kombinat Kamenskiy plant in Russia's Rostov Oblast had "significantly limited" Russia's capacity to produce solid-fuel rocket motors, while operations at the Kstovo oil refinery in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod Oblast had also been halted.
Zelensky added that Ukraine would continue carrying out such strikes.
At the same time, Zelensky said Russia plans to increase missile production, citing updated intelligence.
"All supplies of components, equipment, and machine tools that Russia uses to manufacture missiles must be completely blocked," Zelensky said.
