Ukraine targets 20 tankers from Russia's shadow fleet

Ukraine announced today that it targeted 20 tankers and vessels from the Russian oil and gas fleet in the Black Sea last night, in a qualitative operation carried out by drone forces of the Ukrainian army.

The commander of the drone systems forces in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Robert Provdi, said via his accounts on social media platforms that the qualitative operation targeted 17 oil tankers, two gas carriers, in addition to a tugboat.

The Ukrainian commander indicated the success of the first phase of the naval battle by saying: "The first round is over, we previously managed to target 116 vessels of the Russian shadow fleet in the Sea of Azov, and now in the Black Sea the score is (20 - 0) in our favor today."

These field developments come within the framework of a broader strategic plan, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky approved on June 25 last a special military operation carried out by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) over 40 days, aimed at pressuring Russian military infrastructure and forcing Moscow to end the war, through the use of long-range offensive weapons.

In a related context, military experts confirmed that Ukraine now possesses the full technical capability to impose an effective naval blockade on Russia in the Black and Baltic Seas using advanced drones, according to the Ukrainian news agency.