Ukraine has launched a large-scale campaign against Russian “shadow fleet” tankers attempting to supply occupied Crimea with fuel, as an energy crisis on the peninsula continues to deepen. 

Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces commander, Robert Brovdi, said his forces struck 19 Russian tankers, a cargo ship and a ferry between July 6 and 8, including nine tankers in a single night on July 7, most of them sanctioned vessels operating in the Sea of Azov, a key supply corridor for Russian forces in Crimea and other occupied areas of southern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s drone forces said the tankers, each with a deadweight of roughly 7,000 metric tons, were struck as part of a deliberate effort to disrupt naval logistics feeding fuel and ammunition to Russian troops in the occupied peninsula.

Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said Russia had been forced to reroute fuel supplies to Crimea by sea after Ukraine had already cut off overland routes, describing the campaign as an operation to control the region’s fuel and energy complex.

The Ukrainian Presidential Office in Crimea said the strikes had triggered a “management crisis” on the peninsula, with fuel sales to civilians halted in Sevastopol and more than a dozen Crimean regions experiencing electricity blackouts. Ukraine has kept up pressure on other fronts too, having destroyed Sukhoi aircraft and drone storage sheds at the Saky airfield, hit the Kerch oil transhipment terminal, and struck hangars at the Guardsman airfield, all within the past week.

The fuel campaign extends well beyond Crimea. Ukraine has also targeted refineries deep inside Russian territory, including, for the first time, the Omsk refinery in Siberia, roughly 2,500 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, along with the Slavneft Yanos refinery in Yaroslavl and the Ust-Luga refinery on the Baltic Sea. Ukraine’s security service said it also struck the St Petersburg oil terminal, describing it as one of the largest oil product transshipment hubs in the Baltic region.

The sustained strikes have triggered nationwide fuel shortages inside Russia, with long queues reported at petrol stations in Moscow and beyond, prompting President Vladimir Putin to publicly acknowledge the impact of the attacks for the first time.

Analysts have warned that Ukraine’s deepening strike capability, now reaching targets well beyond the front lines, raises the risk of further escalation, with some suggesting Russia may respond more aggressively in the coming months rather than seek negotiations.

Photo Credit: Reuters