Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine on Wednesday of “a terrorist attack” after a Russian tanker carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) was struck in the Mediterranean Sea.

The alleged attack on the Arctic Metagaz near Malta would further exacerbate the situation on the strained international gas markets, Putin told Russian state television. Qatar, the world’s biggest LNG exporter, has curtailed supply due to the war with Iran.

Putin blamed the EU for hurting itself.

“The European Union provides the regime in Kiev with endless help with weapons and money, and the regime in Kiev is creating one problem after another for the European Union,” he said.

The tanker was travelling after having taken on cargo at the Russian port of Murmansk, according to the Russian Transportation Ministry. All 30 crew members, said to be Russian citizens, had been rescued, the ministry announced, expressing thanks to Malta.

The incident was being classified as an act of international terrorism and piracy, it said.

The ministry gave no details on the extent of the damage caused by the incident. Photos and videos circulating on social media, purportedly showing the incident, showed smoke and fire on a heavily damaged vessel.

The Maltese Armed Forces wrote on Facebook that they had been informed of a distress situation involving the tanker outside their search and rescue area.

The ship had been located and coordination measures taken in accordance with international obligations, it said. The survivors were subsequently found in a life raft within the Libyan search and rescue area.

There was initially no reaction from the Ukrainian side to Russia’s allegations.

However, Serhiy Sternenko, adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister, posted what he described as “exclusive” aerial footage on X, taken after the fire on the Russian gas tanker.

There had recently been a series of incidents involving merchant vessels in the Black Sea. Ukrainian media reported at the end of last year that Kiev had used drones in attacks involving explosions on empty oil tankers there.

Russia has been waging a devastating war against Ukraine for more than four years.