Tanker Struck Near Black Sea Terminal as Both Sides Continue Attacks
The pace of attacks and retaliations between Ukraine and Russia is continuing, with both sides reporting striking additional ships and infrastructure. An incident with a Greek-managed tanker, however, is raising concerns after reports last week that Ukraine had agreed to suspend some attacks targeting foreign-flagged vessels.
The Greek-managed tanker Skiros is reported to have come under attack on Monday at midday from a drone. The vessel was struck with a small fire that the crew was able to contain. There were no reports of injuries to the crew. The 159,000 dwt tanker is registered in Liberia and managed by IMS, making it the second of the company’s tankers struck by the suspected Ukrainian targeting of the offshore oil terminals of Novorossiysk.
The questions, however, centered on what cargo the tanker had loaded, as the terminals at the port handle both Russian oil and oil transported by pipeline from Kazakhstan. The vessel on its AIS signal indicated it was going to CPC (Caspian Pipeline Consortium), but Bloomberg is reporting the tanker loaded a Russian cargo.
Last week, U.S. Vice President JD Vance had personally delivered a message to Ukraine, pressuring it to stop the attacks on international tankers going to or at the CPC terminal. This came as a tanker chartered to Chevron was struck. The stories indicated that Ukraine agreed not to target the CPC infrastructure or foreign-flagged tankers, provided the tankers were not sanctioned and not carrying Russian oil.
The media was indicating that loading at the CPC terminal had been briefly suspended, but Reuters is quoting sources saying it had resumed operations. The nearby Russian Sheskharis terminal was also reported to be offline after a tanker departing the terminal reported an attempted drone attack on Friday. Sheskharis is another critical terminal for Russia, with indications that Novorossiyk handles 700,000 barrels per day of Russian oil.
The Moscow Times is reporting that the repeated strikes on Novorossiysk are taking a heavy toll on Russia’s exports. In addition to interruptions of oil exports, it reports that all three of the grain terminals in the Black Sea port were suspended last week. It says only the smaller Tuapse grain terminal remains in operation for exports. Russia had previously also suspended shipping on the Sea of Azov after Ukraine repeatedly struck vessels in July.
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Russia’s Ministry of Defense, however, is reporting that it struck both port infrastructure and vessels “used in the interests of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.” It said that a patrol boat and fuel tanks were struck in the port of Odesa. In the port of Izmail to the west on the Danube, Russia says it struck a terminal used for unloading military cargo as well as hangars with Western military hardware and surface drones.
Ukraine’s regional administrator, Oleg Kiper, said that a commercial ship flagged in Togo was damaged. He reported that four people were injured, including three who were hospitalized, with one in serious condition.
