Two oil tankers burn in the Black Sea. They are under sanctions and were on their way to Russia.
November 30, 2025, 4:30 p.mNovember 30, 2025, 4:30 p.m
Thomas Wanhoff / t-online
Ukraine attacked two oil tankers in the Black Sea with maritime drones on Friday. A source within the SBU secret service confirmed this to the “Kyiv Independent”. The ships’ destination was the Russian port of Novorossiysk. Accordingly, the two tankers are said to have been able to transport oil worth up to 70 million US dollars. However, they were not loaded at the time of the attack.
This video is supposed to show the attack:
Video: watson/x
According to the information, the joint operation with the Ukrainian Navy was “successful”. The SBU also released a video of the attacks. The report does not indicate how severe the damage to the ships is. Both tankers are part of the Russian shadow fleet, which is used to circumvent sanctions against Russian oil exports.
Turkish authorities reported fire
According to Turkish authorities on Friday, fire broke out on board the tanker. The empty tanker “Kairos” caught fire 28 nautical miles off the Turkish coast due to “external causes,” said the Turkish maritime authority DGM. There was an explosion. All 25 crew members are doing well.
A second oil tanker, the “Virat,” reported being “hit,” the DGM said. She did not provide any information about what type of hit it was. All 20 crew members of the “Virat” are safe. According to the website Vesselfinder, both oil tankers flew the Gambian flag. The independent, Poland-based news portal Nexta reported that there was talk of drone attacks on the radio.
Both ships are on sanctions lists
According to the OpenSanctions website, the US imposed sanctions on Virat in January this year, followed by the EU, Switzerland, Great Britain and Canada. The EU then imposed sanctions on the “Kairos” in July this year, followed by the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
The Turkish authorities initially did not provide any further information about the causes of the fire.
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