{"id":17849,"date":"2026-07-16T18:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T18:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/17849\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T18:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T18:16:12","slug":"ukraine-hit-two-large-russia-linked-oil-tankers-in-black-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/17849\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine Hit Two Large Russia-Linked Oil Tankers in Black Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Bloomberg News (Bloomberg) \u2014 Ukrainian naval drones hit two large Russia-linked oil tankers in the Black Sea as Moscow and Kyiv expand the scope of their mutual maritime strikes.<\/p>\n

The Security Service of Ukraine and the Navy attacked the tankers Louise 1 and Banda, the Kyiv-based intelligence service\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0in a Telegram statement on Thursday. Both vessels are under Ukrainian sanctions and have been carrying Russian crude for export from the nation\u2019s ports on the Black and Baltic Seas, according to the statement.<\/p>\n

Ukraine has recently intensified its attacks<\/a> on Russia\u2019s energy assets \u2014 including oil refineries and tankers \u2013 in an attempt to bring the Kremlin to the negotiating table. The Black Sea is a key waterway for exports, accounting for over 20% of total seaborne crude flows from the nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEach strike on the shadow fleet is a direct blow to the ability of the Russian Federation to continue aggression,\u201d according to the statement.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s campaign of attacks against refineries has forced Russia to export more crude that can\u2019t be processed at home, raising shipments to the highest level since the start of the war. Meanwhile, Kyiv is\u00a0intensifying\u00a0its strikes on tankers<\/a> in both the Black and Azov Seas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ukraine Says Drone Campaign Has Hit 147 Russian-Linked Vessels in 11 Days<\/a><\/p>\n

The Banda Aframax crude tanker under the flag of Liberia was last seen in the Black Sea on Thursday and currently has a status of \u201cnot under command,\u201d according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The status means the vessel is\u00a0unable\u00a0to maneuver due to some exceptional circumstances.<\/p>\n

Most recently, the Banda called at the Georgian port of Kulevi and the Russian port of Novorossiysk, the nation\u2019s largest oil outlet on the Black Sea, the data show.<\/p>\n

The Louise 1 Suezmax crude tanker sailing under the flag of Panama was last seen near Russia\u2019s Black Sea coast on Thursday and so far has a status of \u2018underway using engine.\u201d Most recently, it called at the Turkish ports of Istanbul and Canakkale, according to the data.<\/p>\n

A Panama-flagged crude oil tanker was struck by two Ukrainian surface drones off Russia\u2019s Black Sea coast near the port of Tuapse, maritime intelligence firm Ambrey said in a statement. This matches the description of the Louise 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attack marked a departure from the previous modus operandi observed since the renewed Russian invasion of Ukraine,\u201d Ambrey said. Previously, Ukraine had only targeted internationally sanctioned vessels, while this vessel is only sanctioned by Ukraine, it said.<\/p>\n

Separately, Ukraine\u2019s General Staff in a Telegram statement\u00a0said\u00a0that a total of six Russia-linked oil tankers and two tug vessels were hit in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov on Thursday, providing no names of the ships.<\/p>\n

\u00a9\u00a02026\u00a0Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n

Editorial Standards<\/a> \u00b7 Corrections<\/a> \u00b7 About gCaptain<\/a><\/p>\n

This article contains reporting from Bloomberg, published under license.<\/p>\n

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\u2014 trusted by our 104,621 members<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By\u00a0Bloomberg News (Bloomberg) \u2014 Ukrainian naval drones hit two large Russia-linked oil tankers in the Black Sea as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1138,25,2861,26,319],"class_list":["post-17849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-black-sea","tag-russia","tag-shadow-fleet","tag-ukraine","tag-ukraine-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}