Ukrainian drones are also arriving 2,000 kilometers from kyiv, but not only to attack targets on Russian soil. Ukraine has carried out a military operation in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. Bomber drones of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) seriously damaged the tanker Qendilaccording to a video made public this Friday. The attack occurred in international waters, between the island of Crete (Greece) and Malta. He Qendil It flies the flag of Oman and is said to be part of the so-called ghost fleet, that is to say the ships persecuted by the West for having broken the blockade of Russian oil exports.
He Qendilaccording to the SSU (dependent on the Ministry of the Interior) was sailing without cargo, from Egypt to the Baltic coast of Russia. The SSU did not provide detailed details of the operation, but everything indicates that its drones took off from another ship.
The SSU and GUR, the intelligence services of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, are responsible for most of Ukraine’s actions against the Russian naval fleet in the Black Sea. Its operations are characterized by ingenuity and daring. The SSU’s latest exploit took place on December 15, when one of its underwater drones first attacked a Russian submarine in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
Beyond the Black Sea, where intense military activity takes place because the two competitors are neighbors, Ukraine has shifted its military actions to other coasts. The GUR sabotaged a Russian warship in 2024 in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave in the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania. Ukrainian armed forces bomb Russian oil drilling platforms in the Caspian Sea with drones for the first time in December.
The attack on Qendil in Mediterranean waters is another element of Ukraine’s campaign to weaken the Russian energy industry. Bombings against refineries on Russian territory occur periodically. But this fall, also for the first time, Ukraine struck ships exporting Russian crude oil despite international sanctions. Last December, the SSU and the GUR targeted half a dozen tankers leaving Russian ports, even causing diplomatic incidents with Turkey and Romania, countries bordering the Black Sea.
“By violating international legality and the rules of war, this ship provides revenue to Russia to continue the war, making it an absolutely legitimate objective of the SSU,” explains a statement from the Interior Ministry published in Ukrainian media.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the action against Qendal seeks to increase insurance premiums for ships carrying Russian oil. Putin assured that Russia would respond to this threat.
Russia, for its part, according to Ukrainian authorities, has already reacted by attacking at least four cargo ships transporting Ukrainian agricultural products to international markets last December. Odessa, the main Ukrainian city on the Black Sea, has suffered multiple bombings in recent weeks which limit its port commercial capacity.
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