Officials have reported that a Ukrainian maritime drone attack caused damage to a Russian chemical tanker close to the Crimean Bridge.
When the ship was attacked on the critical bridge between Russia to Crimea, the Kerch Strait, it suffered significant damage.
There were 11 crew members on board when the drone struck overnight, causing damage to the engine room.
The incident, according to reports, did not result in any injuries, but the bridge was closed and ferry service was halted for a while.
The vessel was identified by Russia’s marine transport organisation as a SIG tanker, and its location was given as being 17 miles south of the Crimean Bridge.
Russia’s Federal Marine and River Transport Bureau announced on Telegram that “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.”
According to Russian media, the tanker was struck as it approached the Kerch Strait, which separates Russia’s Taman Peninsula from Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow invaded in 2014 and connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov.
According to an anonymous source with the Ukrainian security services, the strike was carried out in Ukrainian territorial waters by the country’s security and navy forces using 450kg of TNT explosives and sea drones.
Small, unmanned boats called sea drones travel above or below the water’s surface.
It occurs barely one day after an attack on a military base in the Black Sea resulted in the destruction of a Russian battleship.