Expanding the war at sea, Ukraine attacks two Russian ‘shadow fleet’ oil tankers off the Turkish coast

Moscow has accused Ukraine of “violating Turkish sovereignty” after recent attacks on tankers carrying Russian oil. Naval drones reportedly struck the two ships almost simultaneously on November 28. At the time of the attacks, the Kairos was 28 nautical miles from Turkey’s coast, while the Virat was 38 miles offshore. Both tankers sail under the flag of the Gambia and are subject to sanctions by the E.U. and the U.K. for transporting Russian oil above the Western price cap.

A major fire broke out aboard the Kairos after the strike, though none of the crew members on either vessel were injured. On Saturday morning, the Virat came under attack again.

Ukraine’s Security Service has unofficially claimed responsibility for the incident. On Saturday, November 29, multiple Ukrainian media outlets, citing sources within the agency, reported that the operation was carried out using new, upgraded drones. “Sea Baby naval drones disabled vessels capable of transporting nearly $70 million worth of oil — ships that could have helped the Kremlin circumvent international sanctions,” one of the sources said.

On Saturday morning, naval drones also struck infrastructure at the port of Novorossiysk, which is controlled by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, operator of the Caspian main oil pipeline. Roughly 80 percent of Kazakhstan’s oil designated for export through Russia is pumped through this line.

Some of the port’s infrastructure sustained severe damage in the attack, forcing the suspension of loading operations. No workers at the site were hurt.

Kazakhstan lodged an official protest over the incident. In a statement, the country’s Foreign Ministry said the attack “harms bilateral relations between Kazakhstan and Ukraine” and demanded that Kyiv refrain from further attacks. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry countered that Kyiv’s actions were not directed against Kazakhstan, insisting that the objective was “the systemic weakening of Russia’s military-industrial potential.”

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Meanwhile, Turkish officials warned that the attacks on the Kairos and the Virat posed a “serious threat to navigation, life, property, and environmental safety in the region.”

On November 28, reports surfaced of yet another tanker incident that may be connected to the transport of Russian oil. Off the coast of Senegal, the Mersin, sailing under the flag of Panama and owned by a Turkish company, issued a distress signal. According to one unconfirmed report, the ship may have been attacked by a drone. On December 1, the vessel’s operator announced that four explosions had occurred onboard the tanker. However, no one has directly implicated Ukraine in the incident.

On December 1, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the attack on the Turkish tankers “an outrageous incident.” “This is an encroachment on the sovereignty of the Republic of Turkey, and it is an encroachment on the security and property of the owners of these vessels,” Peskov said.

Ukraine has previously attacked Russian tankers in the Black Sea, but, as the BBC’s Russian Service notes, such strikes have typically taken place in the northern part of the sea, within or near Russian territorial waters.