The attack took place yesterday, along the Turkish coast of the Black Sea, and the information was confirmed today for the Kyiv Independent by a source from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), writes The Kyiv Independent.
According to the source, the goal of the operation was ships that could transport oil worth almost 70 million dollars and thus help Moscow to bypass international sanctions. Both tankers were on their way to the Russian port of Novorossiysk to load cargo and were empty at the time of the attack.
Never-before-seen footage of this Ukrainian operation was also published.
Ukraine’s Sea Baby naval drones have delivered another blow to Russia’s shadow fleet — striking the sanctioned oil tankers KAIRO and VIRAT in the Black Sea and crippling both vessels.
According to an SBU source, the drones inflicted critical damage, effectively knocking the… pic.twitter.com/PbzPTuTWJx
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) November 29, 2025
The source said the drones “successfully carried out their work on the ships”, adding that the joint operation with the Ukrainian navy dealt a “significant blow to Russian oil transport”. Video provided by the source shows both tankers suffering critical damage after the explosions.
Attacked tankers have a long history of evading sanctions. The “shadow fleet” consists of vessels that rely on non-transparent ownership, flags of convenience and irregular maritime practices to transport Russian oil despite Western restrictions.
Bloomberg reported that the Kairos was returning to Novorossiysk after delivering Urals crude oil to India. Virat, who was sanctioned by both the US and the EU for transporting Russian oil, spent most of the year inactive in the western Black Sea after being added to the US sanctions list on January 10, reports Index.hr.
(Vijesti.ba)
