Russian tanker with eleven crew members on board has been damaged in an overnight Ukrainian drone attack in the Black Sea, according to reports.
No injuries were reported but the Crimean Bridge and ferry transport were suspended for several hours, Russian officials said.
“The SIG tanker… received a hole in the engine room near the waterline on the starboard side, preliminarily as a result of a sea drone attack,” Russia’s Federal Marine and River Transport agency said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
The tanker had been approaching the Kerch Strait – which links the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov – when it was hit by Ukrainian drones, Russia said.
Ukrainian sources told Interfax agency that the attack was conducted by Ukraine’s security and naval forces with sea drones in its territorial waters.
Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.
Overnight a Russian warship was seriously damaged in a Ukrainian naval drone attack on Russia’s navy base at Novorossiysk, the first time the Ukrainian navy has projected its power so far from the country’s shores.
Moscow-installed officials in Crimea said the Crimean Bridge, which was completed by Russia in 2018 and has come under serious attack twice in the war, was not targeted in the tanker attack.
“Once again, there was no direct attack on the Crimea Bridge and there was no explosion in the immediate vicinity,” Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the Russia-installed governor of Crimea, said on his Telegram channel.
Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency said three explosions had been reported in the area.