A cargo vessel traveling from Ukraine’s Odesa region to Turkey was struck by Russian drones, injuring crew members – just hours after a series of separate drone attacks hit three Russia-linked tankers near Turkey’s northern coast.
According to the Ukrainian Navy, Friday morning, strike drones hit the Vanuatu-flagged cargo ship ANT, owned by a Turkish company, as it was sailing along the Black Sea export route from southern Ukraine.
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The strike damaged the ship’s superstructure and sparked a fire on board. The blaze was later extinguished by Ukraine’s Maritime Search and Rescue Service with Navy support. Two crew members were injured and evacuated for medical treatment.
The strike came shortly after a separate incident earlier on Thursday where three tankers linked to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” were hit by drones near Turkey’s northern coast in waters close to the district of Türkeli.
No casualties were reported.
One of the vessels, the Palau-flagged James II, was struck while sailing in ballast around 80 km north of Türkeli and roughly 77 km from the Bosphorus Strait. The drone reportedly hit its engine room, with about 20 crew members on board.
Two additional Sierra Leone-flagged tankers, Altura and Velora, were also hit during a ship-to-ship transfer operation nearby. Footage shared online appeared to show a drone marked with Cyrillic lettering resembling the word “police.”
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Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) has previously identified the vessels as part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” – aging tankers and opaque operators used to bypass Western sanctions and continue oil exports. HUR estimates the network handles up to 30% of Russia’s seaborne oil trade.
All three vessels have previously been sanctioned by Western governments over Russian oil shipments, including by Canada, EU, UK, and Switzerland.
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