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Ukraine war
WorldRussia & Central Asia

Russia’s SIG tanker damaged in Ukrainian sea drone attack near Crimea Bridge

  • No one was hurt in the attack on the US-sanctioned vessel that received a hole in the engine room when it was approaching the Kerch Strait
  • The ship had been supplying oil to Russian troops in Syria

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A ship under the the Kerch bridge blocks the passage to the Kerch Strait near Kerch, Crimea. File photo: AP
Reuters
A US-sanctioned Russian tanker near the strategic bridge linking Russia to Crimea was damaged by a sea drone attack, Russian maritime officials said early on Saturday.
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No one was hurt in the attack on the SIG tanker, but the Crimean Bridge and ferry transport were suspended for several hours, said Russia-installed officials in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The United States sanctioned the chemical tanker and its owner, St. Petersburg-based Transpetrochart, in 2019 for helping provide jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria.

“The SIG tanker … received a hole in the engine room near the waterline on the starboard side, preliminarily as a result of a sea drone attack,” Russia’s Federal Marine and River Transport agency said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Russian media said the tanker, approaching the Kerch Strait that links the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, was hit by Ukrainian drones.

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Ukraine’s Interfax agency, citing an unnamed Ukrainian security service source, said the attack was conducted by Ukraine’s security and naval forces in its territorial waters, using sea drones.

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