Nine tankers in one night. Ukraine says its Unmanned Systems Forces hit that many Russian shadow-fleet vessels in the Sea of Azov overnight on July 8, bringing the three-day total to 21: 19 oil tankers, one cargo ship and one ferry near Kerch.
Commander Robert “Magyar” Brovdi gave the breakdown. Two vessels were targeted on July 6, ten on July 7 and nine on the night of July 8. All were operating in the Sea of Azov, he said, and the aim was to disrupt fuel supplies to Russian-occupied Crimea. The 414th Separate Brigade, “Magyar’s Birds,” confirmed the operation on X, along with the 413th Separate Regiment “Raid” and the 1st Separate Center of the Unmanned Systems Forces. It said the newly established Deep Strike Center coordinated the effort.
Security firm sees escalation
Maritime security firm Ambrey called it “a significant escalation in the Ukraine maritime security threat and a genuine shift in how this war is being fought at sea.” Even before the final night, it said, the first 12 strikes through July 7 were the most vessels hit within 48 hours since the war began.
Ambrey warned of a “realistic possibility” that Russia would retaliate against Ukraine-linked commercial shipping in the coming days, noting that responses in comparable cases have usually come within two to five days. Ships waiting at Sulina Anchorage, including some bound for Ukrainian Danube and Black Sea ports, could face higher risk.
Brovdi named eight of the vessels hit. Ambrey, citing Equasis records, listed the tankers Venus III, Sanar-1, Sanar-17, Teti, Aleksey Savrasov, Penelope and Climene, plus the dredger Ivan Cheremisinov. Many are sanctioned by Ukraine, the EU or the US, Ambrey said, but it judged that they were picked because they were bringing fuel to Crimea, not because of sanctions.
Videos from the Unmanned Systems Forces appeared to show drones striking ship bridges and crew accommodation. Ambrey said that raises the danger to civilian seafarers.
What Russia said
Regional officials reported that eight of the ships were at anchor and two were sailing toward Rostov-on-Don. None was carrying cargo, they said. One crew was evacuated and two people were injured. Russian authorities said they shot down about 70 drones over 11 districts of the Rostov region.
Refineries and fuel shortages
Ukraine said it also hit 53 military targets overnight in occupied Crimea and the south. In its “Crimean Switch Off” campaign, six more power substations were struck, taking the total of power facilities targeted from July 1 to July 8 to 50. Other overnight attacks reached the Saratov refinery, pipeline facilities, energy sites in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, and the Borisoglebsk military airfield in Voronezh region.
Earlier in the week, Ukraine struck the Omsk refinery in Siberia, roughly 1,700 miles from Ukrainian-held territory. It processed about 460,000 barrels a day last year, per Reuters, and two industry sources told the agency it stopped processing oil after the attack.
Parts of Russia now face gasoline and diesel shortages. Queues have formed at fuel stations in several cities, and some regions limit purchases. Russia announced on Wednesday a temporary ban on diesel exports until July 31. “There is no petrol,” RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said on state television, adding: “Yes, it is hard, yes, very hard.”
At the NATO summit
The strikes came as Zelenskyy met Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara. Zelenskyy called air defence Ukraine’s top priority and said work had begun with the US on a drone cooperation agreement. Trump said the US would let Ukraine manufacture Patriot interceptors and called Zelenskyy “very effective.”
Russia, meanwhile, attacked with 169 Shahed-type drones, decoys and missiles. Ukraine said it downed 139 drones, while five Iskander ballistic missiles hit four locations. A strike on the port of Odesa killed four people and injured six. Kyiv was hit for the third time in a week, with fires reported at storage facilities in two districts.
