Drones hit two Russian shadow-fleet tankers in Black Sea, SSU source says

The SSU Sea Baby maritime drones have struck two sanctioned oil tankers, KAIRO and VIRAT, belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet, in the Black Sea.

According to Ukrinform, this was reported by a source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU).

The operation was jointly carried out by the 13th Directorate of the SSU Military Counterintelligence together with the Ukrainian Navy.

Modernized Sea Baby maritime drones were used in the strike. They are capable of covering long distances and are equipped with reinforced warheads.

Video footage shows that after the impacts, both tankers sustained critical damage and were effectively put out of operation. This will significantly affect the transportation of Russian oil.

At the time of the attack, the sanctioned vessels were empty — they were heading to the port of Novorossiysk for loading.

“The SSU continues active efforts to reduce Russia’s financial capacity to wage war against Ukraine. Sea Baby maritime drones disabled vessels that could carry nearly 70 million worth of oil and helped the Kremlin circumvent international sanctions,” the SSU source emphasized.

As reported by Ukrinform, in the morning of November 29, unmanned boats completely disabled the mooring system of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s (CPC) Marine Terminal in Novorossiysk, which resulted in a halt of oil loading operations.