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Ukraine Strikes Russian Oil Port in Primorsk and Tankers in Baltic and Black Seas
Ukraine conducted drone strikes on Russia's Primorsk oil port and several tankers used for evading sanctions. Russian forces responded with drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian regions, causing casualties and damage. Both sides reported intercepting numerous drones overnight.
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Ukraine launched a wave of strikes against Russian oil targets on Sunday, hitting a key loading port on the Baltic Sea and two tankers that Ukraine alleges were illegally used to transport Russian crude. A nighttime drone strike sparked a blaze at Russia’s largest oil exporting port on the Baltic Sea, the port of Primorsk, according to Russian regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko.
The port, operated by Russia’s state oil firm Transneft, is capable of handling hundreds of thousands of barrels per day. Primorsk was targeted multiple times in March and lies over 620 miles from Ukraine, between the Russian-Finnish border and Russia’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg.
Local Gov. Drozdenko stated that the drone strike did not cause an oil spill. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukrainian forces destroyed several military and other targets, while also inflicting significant damage on oil port infrastructure.
Zelensky wrote in a Telegram post on Sunday: “One more Russian carrier of Kalibr missiles is out of action. According to Zelensky, Ukrainian drones hit a Karakurt missile ship, a patrol boat, and a tanker belonging to Russia’s so-called shadow oil fleet, used to evade Western sanctions and price caps on Russian energy.
Ukrainian forces struck two more “shadow fleet” tankers near the entrance of the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
Zelensky said on Sunday: “These tankers were actively used to transport oil. The operation was led by the chief of Ukraine’s general staff, Andrii Hnatov, according to Zelensky. Moscow did not immediately acknowledge Zelensky’s claims regarding either strike.
Ukrainian officials argue that oil revenue directly funds Moscow’s full-scale invasion of the country, now in its fifth year. Two people were killed and three others wounded as Russian drones struck Ukraine’s southern Odesa region overnight into Sunday, Ukraine’s Emergency Service reported. The attack damaged three residential buildings.
