Ukrainian naval drone strike reportedly cripples Russian ‘shadow fleet’ tanker in Black Sea, SBU source says
Ukraine’s Security Service used Sea Baby naval drones to strike an oil tanker from Russia’s “shadow fleet” in the Black Sea on Dec. 10, critically damaging ship as it sailed through Ukraine’s exclusive economic zone, a source in the agency told the Kyiv Independent.
The tanker, identified as he Comoros-flagged Dashan, was heading toward the Russian port terminal of Novorossiysk at high speed with its automatic identification system switched off when it was hit, resulting in “critical damage” as explosions ripped through the stern area, the source said.
Video shared by the source shows large blasts at the rear of the ship. The source said preliminary assessments indicate that the Dashan has been put out of service.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims about the strike or the extent of the damage.
The SBU estimated the value of the Dashan at about $30 million and said it typically carried roughly $60 million worth of oil products on a single voyage. The European Union, the U.K., Canada, Australia and Switzerland had previously imposed sanctions on the vessel over its role in transporting Russian oil and operating with its identification systems turned off, the source added.
“The SBU continues active measures to reduce oil-dollar revenues to the Russian budget. In the last two weeks, this is already the third disabled tanker of the ‘shadow fleet’ that helped the Kremlin circumvent international sanctions,” the SBU source said.
The reported strike on the Dashan follows a series of Ukrainian operations targeting Russia’s shadow fleet and related oil infrastructure.
Ivan Stupak, a former SBU officer, told the Kyiv Independent that the broader campaign against Russia’s shadow fleet is aimed at making the trade too risky for shipowners. “They are trying to scare tanker owners away from entering the Black Sea ports of the Russian Federation and from loading Russian oil there,” he said, adding that “it is a very lucrative business, and there are many who want to be in it.”
On Nov. 28, Sea Baby drones struck the sanctioned Russian oil tankers Kairos and Virat in the Black Sea off Turkey’s coast, disabling vessels that a source in the SBU said were tied to the Kremlin’s shadow fleet.
Days later, Turkish authorities said the Russian tanker Midvolga-2 reported an apparent drone attack about 80 miles off Turkey’s coast while carrying sunflower oil from Russia to Georgia, though Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry denied involvement and suggested Russia may have staged the incident.
Ukraine has also used naval drones to hit infrastructure that services Russia’s oil exports. Naval drones struck Russia’s oil terminals in the Black Sea ports of Tuapse and Novorossiysk on Sept. 24, “paralyzing” major export operations there, a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence, known by its Ukrainian acronym HUR, said.
