Drones operated by the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces’ “Birds” unit had targeted 116 vessels in the Sea of Azov over the past nine days, according to Ukrainian serviceman Major Robert Brovdi.
The vessels targeted in the operation included five tankers, five bulk carriers and one tugboat. Brovdi said the goal was to disable the vessels rather than sink them, leaving them adrift and unable to operate, and to ultimately disrupt Russia’s “feeder fleet” of small and medium-sized tankers used to transfer oil from ports connected to the Volga-Don Canal and the Sea of Azov to larger tankers waiting offshore in the Black Sea.
The attacks, he said, would complicate fuel deliveries to Crimea, forcing Russia to rely more heavily on road and rail transport, which are vulnerable to Ukrainian attacks.
Handout video from Ukrainian military, which it said showed strikes on Russian vessels on July 12. Reuters could not independently verify exact locations and dates.
Shipping in the Sea of Azov, the route for a quarter of Russia’s grains exports, remained restricted on Tuesday for security reasons following the Ukrainian attacks on vessels in the area, three industry sources said.
The restrictions on shipping entering and exiting the sea went into force on Friday, Reuters reported, sending Euronext wheat up as much as 4% to a six-week high. Russia is the world’s biggest wheat exporter and also a major sunflower oil supplier.
One of the sources told Reuters commercial vessels could move freely in the Sea of Azov but could not enter or leave via the Kerch Strait, which links it to the Black Sea, or the Azov-Don channel — a navigable waterway connecting the Don River with the Sea of Azov.
Russian authorities have not formally announced the curbs, the sources said.
On Tuesday, Russia accused Ukraine of terrorism over its escalating attacks on shipping in the Sea of Azov.
Industry sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters that several grain ships were hit on July 13 and July 14 and caught fire.
“They are standing there like targets before a firing squad. In a couple of days, there won’t be a single intact boat left in the Sea of Azov, only damaged ones,” one of the sources told Reuters.
“What the Ukrainian regime is doing goes beyond even piracy. Pirates, at least, plunder and keep the spoils for themselves,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
A Ukrainian military source told Reuters: “The Ukrainian Armed Forces strike only military targets or targets that contribute to strengthening Russia’s combat capability.
“Civilian cargoes are not among them. By talking about attacks on civilian vessels, Russia is looking for a pretext to justify its cynical strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.”