Ukraine on Wednesday renewed attacks on ships it says are carrying Russian oil exports and helping Moscow fund its war against Kyiv.
The attack on the tanker in the Black Sea marks the third sea drone strike in two weeks that Ukraine has carried out targeting such vessels, dubbed the “shadow fleet,” the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, told Reuters.
“The SBU continues to take active measures to reduce petrodollar revenues to the Russian budget,” the SBU official said, adding that the ships have been “put out of action” because they helped Russia “circumvent international sanctions.”
It is unclear whether the strikes killed anyone. The BBC verified a video released from Ukraine that captured footage of the attack, showing it targeted a vessel named the Dashan, which is under European Union and British sanctions and is sailing without a known flag registry.
Ukraine is suspected of using limpet mines to carry out at least seven other attacks on Russian tankers since December 2024. Other Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure include strikes that took place in August, when Kyiv struck oil refineries in Syzran and Krasnodar.
Most European countries and the United States boycotted Russian energy products when Russia invaded Ukraine, and put sanctions on hundreds of ships they say are part of Moscow’s shadow fleet. However, China, India, and Turkey are among several countries that have continued to purchase oil and other energy products from Russia at discounted prices.
The Trump administration has proposed a “secondary tariff” strategy that would penalize countries that buy Russian oil. The White House has pressured Europe to adopt the policy and has threatened to slap such tariffs on India and China.
The administration has only imposed secondary tariffs thus far only on New Delhi. But after being pressed by lawmakers to do more to crush Moscow’s cash flow generated by its energy industry, Trump in October authorized new sanctions directly targeting Russia’s two largest oil companies. The sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, which account for around two-thirds of Russia’s oil exports, took effect in late November.
Trump said he hoped the move would force Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.
“I just felt it was time. We waited a long time,” the president said. “Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they don’t go anywhere.”
Ukraine’s efforts over this year to target Russia’s energy economy have raised eyebrows from certain European nations, gaining some sympathy from Trump.
In August, Trump criticized Ukraine for carrying out strikes targeting a Russian oil pipeline known as one of Europe’s most important energy corridors. The president’s words came in response to his friend, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who had expressed outrage that Kiev targeted the Druzhba pipeline, which supplies his country and Slovakia with oil.
Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto said in September that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was “the only Western politician whom I talked to in the last 11 years” who agreed that Hungary’s unique, landlocked geography put it in a bind in matters of energy supply.
UKRAINIAN DRONES HIT RUSSIA ON EVE OF TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT IN ALASKA
Ukraine has also faced scrutiny due to accusations that it wielded one of the most sweeping acts of sabotage against civilian infrastructure in modern history, after a mysterious explosion blew up the Nord Stream oil pipelines.
Germany pointed the finger at Ukraine after the massive attack. And Berlin in August arrested a Ukrainian man in connection with the explosion, with federal prosecutors saying the suspect worked with a Ukrainian group to plant explosives in Swedish and Danish waters under the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines.
