Fifteen more vessels went down overnight on July 13, and the tally stands at 105 in eight days. That is the claim from Maj. Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, who posted the figures on Telegram on Monday. The latest night’s targets were seven tankers, five dry cargo ships, one ferry and two tugboats.
“Operation MoLoChKa [Dairy] will continue until the Russian shadow fleet is listed in the Red Book of the Sea of Azov,” Brovdi wrote. The 105 count covers July 6 to July 13, and the ships were hit in the Sea of Azov and around occupied Crimea. Earlier in the week he had reported 90 vessels in the first seven days, among them 28 ships in a single overnight attack on July 11.
What the strikes are meant to cut
Brovdi says the campaign has spread to Crimea’s shore facilities. Transshipment sites on the peninsula are being hit every night, he said, traffic through the Kerch Strait has stopped, and unloading is down to a minimum. These are his claims, and the reports did not carry independent confirmation.
Ukraine’s General Staff backed up the vessel strikes in its daily update. It said the tankers carried Russian oil and petroleum products around international sanctions, and that the ferry served military logistics and cargo for Russia’s armed forces. The dry cargo ships and tugs, it added, moved military equipment and supplies.
The power grid and air defenses
A second operation, called “Crimean Switch Off,” ran from Sunday into Monday. Brovdi said drones hit nine electrical substations of various sizes in Crimea and other occupied territory. They also struck the strategic Crimea power transfer point of the Kuban-Crimea energy bridge, which links the peninsula to Russia. It was the second hit on that facility within 48 hours.
He also claimed four air defense assets destroyed: “An S-400 Triumf launcher, a Tor air defense system, and two radar complexes.” The General Staff separately reported the loss of a Nebo-U radar in Crimea and an S-400 launcher near Kerch. Over the previous day, Brovdi said, his operators engaged 1,725 targets along the front, including 418 Russian troops.
The legal argument
Kyiv defends the strikes on tankers by saying oil exports directly pay for Moscow’s war, which in its view makes them legitimate military targets. Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba put that case in a letter to the International Maritime Organization, rejecting Russian charges that Ukraine is staging “terrorist” attacks on commercial shipping. He accused Russia of attacking 59 merchant vessels since its full-scale invasion began and of repeatedly breaking international humanitarian law and maritime safety rules.
The letter arrives as European countries press harder on the shadow fleet, estimated at more than 1,500 tankers used to get around Western sanctions.
Sources
- Russia Is Losing the Sea of Azov as Ukraine Hits 105 Shadow Fleet Vessels in 8 Days
- Ukraine Strikes 105 Russian Shadow Fleet Ships in 8 Days, Hits Crimea Power Grid Again
