Ukraine Says Drone Campaign Has Hit 147 Russian-Linked Vessels in 11 Days
Ukraine says drone strikes hit 147 shadow-fleet vessels in 11 days, forcing Russia to divert elite units to guard tankers.
- On Thursday, USF Commander Robert "Madyar" Brovdi reported that Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces struck 147 vessels of Russia's shadow fleet between July 6 and 16, continuing Operation "Molochka" to target maritime logistics circumventing international sanctions.
- Russia relies on a network of 1,400+ aging tankers to transport oil, which finances the Kremlin's war effort; smaller feeder vessels are essential because deep-draft ships cannot enter shallow Russian ports.
- Ship movements in the Sea of Azov dropped from 132 vessels on July 6 to 43 by July 12, according to synthetic-aperture-radar imagery cited by the channel Oko Gora; Ukrainian drones struck 42 vessels in the Black Sea.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Ukraine of "terrorism," while Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba rejected the claim in a letter to the International Maritime Organization; Moscow is reportedly redeploying elite Rubicon drone units to protect tankers.
- Kyiv aims to block revenue streams sustaining the war by forcing these vessels to become "drifting barges," seeking irreversible paralysis of Russian fuel and cargo logistics using inexpensive drones without causing massive oil spills.
14 Articles
14 Articles
Ukrainian armed forces announced on Friday, July 17, that they had struck 12 Russian ships in the Black Sea. This attack reflects Ukraine's new strategic objective: to prevent Russian ships from navigating freely in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
Ukrainian drone operators claimed another 12 strikes on Russian shadow fleet vessels on Friday night, bringing the total damage to 159 Russian ships in 12 days, turning the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea into a graveyard for them, the British newspaper Telegraph reports.
Kremlin sparks alarm with plans to protect shadow fleet with troops on board
Partisans within Russia tip-off Ukraine that Putin is arming up his sanctions-buster fleet with soldiers after losing catastrophically against Kyiv's deep strike drone and missile operations
(Seoul=Yonhap News) A maritime drone rushes toward an oil tanker at high speed.
Ukraine Says Drone Campaign Has Hit 147 Russian-Linked Vessels in 11 Days
Ukraine says its expanding drone campaign against Russia’s maritime logistics has now struck 147 vessels in just 11 days, extending operations from the Sea of Azov deeper into the Black...
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