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This is the moment a Ukrainian drone hits a Russian tanker transporting fuel to Russian forces in the Black Sea.
The strike yesterday was the second sea attack involving drones in one day, after Ukraine struck a major Russian port earlier on Friday.
The attacks follow Russian strikes on Ukrainian ports after Moscow withdrew from a export agreement allowing Ukraine access to the world markets to sell 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.
They added 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.
An official with Ukraine’s Security Service confirmed they were behind the attack on the tanker, which was transporting fuel for Russian forces.
They also claimed a sea drone, filled with 450 kilograms (992 pounds) of TNT, was used for the attack.
A Russian tanker was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack near the Crimea Bridge (Picture: East2West News)
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 (12-mile) 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.
The attacks follow Russian strikes on Ukrainian ports after Moscow withdrew from a grain export agreement (Picture: AFP)
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 lies about 110 kilometres (about 60 miles) east of Crimea.
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The tanker was transporting fuel to Russian armed forces.