Kamikaze drones have damaged two oil tankers blacklisted by the West, as well as a crude hub in southern Russia in recent days
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has condemned recent Ukrainian “terrorist attacks” on international energy infrastructure.
Over the past several days, explosives-laden sea drones attacked two Gambian-flagged tankers off the coast of Türkiye, as well as a major crude hub on Russia’s Black Sea coast.
In a statement on Sunday, Zakharova emphasized that the “civilian energy infrastructure that was attacked plays an important role in ensuring global energy security,” and has never been subject to any international sanctions or restrictions whatsoever.
According to the Russian spokeswoman, “the Kiev regime’s special services have effectively claimed responsibility for the said acts” of sabotage, as evidenced by footage published by Ukrainian media.
Several Ukrainian and Western news outlets have reported that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Ukrainian Navy were behind the strikes on the tankers on Friday, which presumably involved Sea Baby naval drones.
Zakharova noted that the latest attacks come against the backdrop of a major corruption scandal in Ukraine involving senior officials. Moreover, the Ukrainian military has been steadily losing ground to Russian forces in recent months.
She suggested that the latest acts of sabotage had been conducted in an effort to divert the Ukrainian public’s attention.
In a post on X on Saturday, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli condemned attacks on the vessels within the country’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea, but stopped short of blaming any country.
He wrote that the “incidents… posed serious risks to navigation, human life, property, and the environment.”
Keceli added that Türkiye was communicating with all parties to “prevent the spread of war and further escalation in the Black Sea.”
The vessels in question, the Kairos and the Virat, are on a Western blacklist for allegedly transporting Russian oil in violation of sanctions.
Moscow has consistently denied operating a ‘shadow fleet’ designed to skirt restrictions.
It is understood that both tankers were en route to the Russian port of Novorossiysk when they came under attack on Friday.
On Sunday, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry condemned a drone attack on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s infrastructure in southern Russia the previous day.
The consortium specializes in transporting crude from Kazakhstan.
