Ukrainian drones hit Russian tanker transporting fuel near Crimea

Ukrainian drones have hit a Russian tanker in the Black Sea near Crimea, according to Russian officials and video circulating on social media.

The strike late on Friday night was the second sea attack involving drones in one day, after Ukraine struck a major Russian port earlier on Friday in an attack that underlined Kyiv’s growing naval capabilities as the Black Sea becomes an increasingly important battleground in the war.

The attacks follow Russian strikes on Ukrainian ports after Moscow nearly three weeks ago withdrew from a key grain export agreement that allowed Ukraine to sell millions of tons of 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, adding that there were no casualties among the 11 crew members.

An official with Ukraine’s Security Service confirmed to The Associated Press that the service was behind the attack on the tanker, which was transporting fuel for Russian forces.

A sea drone, filled with 450 kilograms (992 pounds) of TNT, was used for the attack, added the official.

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.

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.

A Telegram post on Saturday by the deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev implied that Russia would increase its attacks against Ukrainian ports in response to Kyiv’s attacks on Russian ships in the Black Sea.

“Apparently, the strikes on Odesa, Izmail, and other places were not enough for them,” he wrote.

In other developments, Russia’s defence ministry said it had captured a settlement in Ukraine’s easternmost Luhansk region, most of which is occupied by Russia.

“In the area of Kupiansk … the settlement of Novoselivske was liberated,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.

Elsewhere, a two-day summit on finding a peaceful settlement to the war kicked off in Saudi Arabia.

Senior officials from around 40 countries – but not Russia – will aim to agree key principles on how to end the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said of the summit: “It is very important because in such matters as food security, the fate of millions of people in Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world directly depends on how fast the world will be in implementing the Peace Formula.

“I am grateful to Saudi Arabia for this platform for negotiations.”

The main Ukrainian envoy to the summit in Jeddah, chief Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak, spoke of the talks on Friday night in a television interview published on his Telegram account: “I expect that the conversation will be difficult, but behind us is truth, behind us goodness,” he said.

Commenting on the talks in Saudi Arabia, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Russian state media that the idea of making decisions on the conflict without the participation of Moscow was “absurd”.

Nevertheless, she said, delegates have “full scope for creativity” to discuss the issue.