{"id":790526,"date":"2026-07-09T12:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/790526\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T12:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:50:10","slug":"ukraine-says-35-shadow-fleet-ships-struck-in-4-days-after-another-14-struck-overnight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/790526\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine Says 35 Shadow Fleet Ships Struck in 4 Days After Another 14 Struck Overnight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ukraine reportedly struck 14 Russian<\/a> vessels, including 12 oil tankers believed to be part of Moscow\u2019s so-called \u201cshadow fleet,\u201d in the Sea of Azov overnight into Thursday, July 9.<\/p>\n

Robert \u201cMadyar\u201d Brovdi, commander of Ukraine\u2019s Unmanned Systems Forces<\/a> (USF), wrote on Telegram that his units targeted 12 tankers, one dry cargo ship and one tugboat.<\/p>\n

JOIN US ON TELEGRAM<\/p>\n

Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He added that Ukraine had struck 35 tankers, dry cargo ships and support vessels over the past 96 hours, saying Russia\u2019s \u201cshadow fleet\u201d was \u201cthinning.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The vessels he identified under the Russian flag were:<\/p>\n

tanker Chelsea-6 tanker Auratanker Sonar-1 tanker Ilya Repin Mercury (vessel type to be confirmed) tugboat Alfeo with the barge Aphrodite tanker Venus-3tanker Penelope <\/p>\n

He also said the sanctioned tanker Galiaskar Kamal, sailing under the Panamanian flag, was hit. The identities of five additional vessels are still being verified.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll identified tankers are part of the shadow fleet and are under international sanctions,\u201d Brovdi wrote.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s General Staff also confirmed<\/a> the destruction of 12 tankers, a tugboat and a dry cargo ship, adding that it is working to establish the extent of damage.<\/p>\n

According to the General Staff, the vessels were used to supply fuel and lubricants to Russian military units and to transport oil and petroleum products in circumvention of international sanctions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese vessels facilitate the export of energy resources, one of the Kremlin\u2019s key sources of funding for its war against Ukraine,\u201d the statement says.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Ukraine<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Other Topics of Interest<\/p>\n

Ukraine Reports Strike on Rostov Oil Terminal as Russia Says Tankers Were Attacked Again<\/a><\/p>\n

The reported attack marks the second time this week Russian authorities have acknowledged drone strikes on tankers in the Taganrog Bay.<\/p>\n

Brovdi also recounted previous strikes. On July 6, Ukrainian forces reportedly hit the tankers Captain Barmin and Sanar-3 (Primemax class).<\/p>\n

On July 7, Brovdi said 10 vessels were struck<\/a>, including 8 tankers, 1 dry cargo ship and the ferry SKS One in Kerch:<\/p>\n

Venera-3 Sanar-1 Sanar-17 Klimena Teti Alexey Savrasov Penelope Ivan Cheremisinov one unidentified dry cargo shipferry SKS One <\/p>\n

On July 8, he said Ukrainian forces hit nine more vessels<\/a>:<\/p>\n

tanker Efrosinya B tanker Maria tanker Sanar-17 (second reported strike) tanker Sanar-4 tanker Klimena (second reported strike) dry cargo ship Donstardry cargo ship Vladimir Yarygindry cargo ship Feofan Shokhirevdry cargo ship Evgeniya Z <\/p>\n

Brovdi also said Ukrainian forces struck 45 military targets overnight in occupied Crimea and southern Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Among the reported targets were the Saky thermal power plant, three fuel storage facilities, two logistics sites, a Zhitel electronic warfare system and communications towers.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Thursday, Rostov Region Governor Yuriy Slyusar confirmed that two tankers had been damaged in the Taganrog Bay<\/a> during an overnight Ukrainian drone attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Taganrog Bay, [unmanned aerial vehicles] UAVs again attacked two tankers, which sustained mechanical damage. There were no injuries. The tanker crews were evacuated,\u201d Slyusar wrote on Telegram.<\/p>\n

Fires broke out aboard both vessels, he said. One had been extinguished by the time of his latest update, while firefighters were still working to put out the other.<\/p>\n

Unprecedented strike campaign against Russia\u2019s shadow fleet <\/p>\n

The reported strikes are part of Ukraine\u2019s broader campaign to disrupt Russian fuel supplies and logistics between occupied Crimea and mainland Russia. If confirmed, they would mark Ukraine\u2019s largest strike campaign against Russia\u2019s so-called shadow fleet since the start of the full-scale invasion.<\/p>\n

By comparison, the Ukrainian Navy damaged six Russian tankers operating off Turkey\u2019s northern coast and in the Mediterranean over a three-week period in late 2025.<\/p>\n

Russia, meanwhile, attempted 15-18 attacks on Ukrainian commercial shipping in 2025, damaging around 28 vessels, according to a December 2025 report by the Institute for Black Sea Strategic Studies.<\/p>\n

Ukraine has defended its strikes on Russia\u2019s shadow fleet<\/a>, arguing that tankers transporting Russian oil and petroleum products directly finance Moscow\u2019s war effort and may therefore constitute legitimate military targets.<\/p>\n

Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba made that argument in a letter to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) after Russia accused Kyiv of carrying out \u201cterrorist\u201d attacks against commercial shipping, according to the Financial Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegitimate questions arise as to whether the activities of such vessels can be regarded solely as ordinary commercial operations,\u201d Kuleba wrote.<\/p>\n

He argued that the shadow fleet is \u201ccritical to the generation of budget revenues for the Russian Federation and the continuation of its war effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previously, Russia has accused Ukraine of attacking the Russian-flagged tanker Arctic Metagaz <\/a>in the Mediterranean in March, an allegation Kyiv has denied.<\/p>\n

Instead, Kuleba said Russia has attacked 59 merchant vessels since the start of the full-scale invasion, including the Turkish cargo ship MV Victress and the German-owned Helga, calling the incidents further evidence of Moscow\u2019s disregard for international humanitarian law and maritime safety.<\/p>\n

Industry estimates suggest Russia\u2019s shadow fleet has grown to more than 1,500 tankers, enabling Moscow to continue exporting oil despite Western sanctions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ukraine reportedly struck 14 Russian vessels, including 12 oil tankers believed to be part of Moscow\u2019s so-called \u201cshadow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-790526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}