[UPDATED: March 4, 8:20 pm
, Kyiv time. Updated to include Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments]
Russia’s Ministry of Transport said Wednesday that a Russian gas tanker was attacked near Malta’s territorial waters in the Mediterranean, catching fire and later sinking, and blamed Ukraine for the incident.
The tanker, Arctic Metagaz, was carrying liquefied natural gas and is considered part of a so-called Russian “shadow fleet” transporting energy supplies under US and European sanctions.
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Mediterranean Sea emergency: The Russian gas tanker ARCTIC METAGAZ (IMO 9243148) is on fire off the coast of Libya. The vessel is under sanctions for illegally transporting LNG. A preliminary attack by naval drones and a series of explosions are reported. A massive fire is on… pic.twitter.com/Wh1Y8qIfZf
— EcoProtector (@ProtectorE59290) March 3, 2026
The vessel, built in 2003, had departed Murmansk on Feb. 24 and was en route to Port Said, Egypt, after transiting the UK and Spain, according to ship-tracking platform Vessel Finder.
It last reported its position as sailing off the coast of Malta on Monday, according to ship tracking data on the MarineTraffic platform, Reuters reported.
The Maltese Armed Forces’ Search and Rescue Coordination Center reported that all 30 crew members, all Russian citizens, were found safe in a lifeboat within Libya’s search-and-rescue zone, about 240 kilometers north of the port of Sirte.
Russia’s Ministry of Transport accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack using unmanned boats launched from the Libyan coast.
“The attack on the Russian tanker Arctic Metagaz … was an act of international terrorism and maritime piracy,” the ministry said, adding that EU authorities must not allow such criminal acts to go unnoticed.
“This is a terrorist attack. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this kind of thing,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said of the attack later on Wednesday, according to AFP.
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Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the incident.
Ukraine has previously demonstrated the ability to strike Russian naval and logistical targets far from the Black Sea.
In December, a Ukrainian strike reportedly hit the vessel Qendil, another ship in the shadow fleet flying the Omani flag, near the waters between Crete and Malta.