SBU Sea Drones Hit 2 Shadow Fleet Tankers in Black Sea

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it struck two Russian oil tankers in the Black Sea using its “Mamai” naval drone.

In its Thursday update, the SBU said it struck the tankers Louise 1 and Banda in a joint operation with the Ukrainian Navy on an unspecified date.

Footage shared by the SBU appeared to place the attacks off Russia’s Black Sea coast near Novorossiysk and Sochi in the daytime. Multiple drones were seen ramming the vessels’ hulls, while onboard drone footage captured the impacts, alongside more distant footage of the blasts.

The SBU said both tankers are under Ukrainian sanctions.

It added that Louise 1 is also under Western sanctions and ferried “almost 3 million tons of Russian Urals oil” in 2026 alone.

“The tanker Louise 1 is involved in the transportation of Russian crude oil during the oil embargo of the G7 and EU countries. The vessel exported products from Russian ports of the Baltic and Black Seas, turning off the automatic identification system,” the SBU wrote.

Sanction database Open Sanctions said the vessel is Panama-flagged and previously sailed under the flags of Greece and Liberia.

The agency said Banda has transported “Russian crude oil from the ports of Ust-Luga, Kerch, Novorossiysk, and Nakhodka,” while naval tracking platform MarineTraffic shows the vessel as Liberia-flagged; Kyiv Post is unable to locate relevant sanction queries on the vessel.

Other Topics of Interest

Ukraine Kills Russia’s $19M Mi-28 Helicopter With $400 FPV Drone

Germany confirmed that it financed 50,000 drones for Kyiv from the same company that made it.

Russian aircraft attempted to intercept the sea drones by machine-gun fire and aerial bombs but to no avail, according to the SBU.

It added that hitting Russian tankers is aimed at starving Moscow of its oil revenue for its war efforts in Ukraine.

The drone used in the attack, the Mamai, was initially unveiled in December 2023. The drone was also the same model found off the Greek island of Lefkada in May.

While there had been isolated attacks targeting sanctioned Russian vessels since late 2025, the campaign began in earnest two weeks ago.

On Monday, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) – the military tasked with the majority of the drone strikes – said it struck 116 Russian vessels within 9 days.

Russia’s foreign minister has likened the attack to piracy, but the USF’s commander rebuffed the claim on Wednesday.