Kiev appears to have taken attacks on tankers to a new level since late last month. While the US is trying to get Ukraine and Russia to agree to a ceasefire. Naval drones struck an oil tanker belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet in the Black Sea on Wednesday, a person familiar with the Ukrainian operation said.
The ship, the Dashan, is a 1 million barrel Suezmax tanker, which appeared to be empty at the time. The person familiar with the matter said the ship was in Ukrainian territorial waters and suffered significant damage.
Since the end of last month, there have been at least five attacks on tankers with ties to Russia. According to one source, Ukraine was behind three of these attacks. That’s a significant increase compared to the rest of 2025, when far fewer tankers were attacked and the perpetrators were generally unknown.
The Dashan was flying the flag of Comoros at the time of the attack and its digital transponder did not transmit a position, a source familiar with the matter said. The ship was due to pick up a cargo of Russian Ural oil in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, according to shipping data seen by the Bloomberg news agency.
The attack was a joint operation between the Ukrainian State Security Service and the Navy. The source reported that explosions were seen near the rear of the Dashan.
