THIS is the dramatic moment when two oil tankers from the shadowy Russian fleet are blown up by drones and exploded into huge fireballs.
Bold footage shows a pair of maritime drones launched from Ukraine The secret service rushes towards the ships and explodes upon impact in the Black Sea.
A second drone carried out a similar ruthless attack on another Russian tanker nearby TürkiyeBosphorus Strait.
Video from the Ukrainian weapon shows it chasing the slow-moving vessel and crashing into its side.
Sparks fly into the air as the explosion goes off, leaving a raging fire burning on the water.
The impact left a chilling streak of flame and black billowing smoke.
According to the official, the coordinated attacks were carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Ukrainian Navy.
Sea baby navy drones hit two tankers belonging to Russians under sanctions, sources told local media.
Russia tried to export oil by circumventing Western sanctions, the official added.
An SBU representative said: “The video shows that after being hit, both tankers received serious damage and were actually taken out of service.
“This will deal a significant blow to Russia. oil transport.”
TürkiyeRussia's Directorate General of Maritime Affairs said the first tanker, the Gambian-flagged Kairos, caught fire in the Black Sea.
It was seen burning about 28 miles off the coast TürkiyeKocaeli Province.
Authorities blamed the fire on external influences, without releasing details.
“Kairos floated empty to the side RussiaNovorossiysk port,” they said.
Within an hour, maritime authorities reported that a second tanker, called the Virat, was attacked while sailing in the Black Sea about 35 nautical miles off the Turkish coast.
Rescue teams were sent to the scene to provide assistance.
All 25 crew members aboard the Kairos were evacuated safely, Kocaeli Governor Ilhami Aktas said, adding that efforts to extinguish the fire were continuing.
“There’s a major fire going on,” he said.
Meanwhile, all 20 crew members aboard the Virat were safe, although heavy smoke was reported in the engine room, maritime authorities said.
Aktas did not confirm what caused the fires, including whether they could have started from sea mines.
He said authorities would make a clearer statement once the investigation was completed.
Since the beginning of the war, several sea mines have been discovered and destroyed in the Black Sea. Russiafull-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Mines were laid by both sides to protect the coastline.
Other local TV channels reported that distress calls were made from tankers after they were attacked in the Black Sea.
Maritime authorities released images of smoke rising from the area where the Kairos caught fire.
The VesselFinder website showed that the Virat was anchored north of the Bosphorus on November 4, close to its current location.
Putin's notorious “shadow fleet”
RUSSIA's “shadow fleet” is a secret network of obsolete oil tankers used to circumvent international sanctions imposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
These sanctions, including caps on Russian oil prices, are aimed at reducing Moscow's revenues.
However, the shadow fleet allows Russia to continue exporting oil around the world while escaping Western control.
This fleet is made up of old, poorly maintained vessels, often operating without reliable Western insurance, relying instead on little or no known suppliers.
To avoid detection, the Navy uses tactics such as disabling tracking systems, falsifying location data, and transferring oil from ship to ship at sea to disguise the origin of the oil.
Its opaque operations and lack of oversight create vulnerabilities to maritime security and international law and order.
Kairos's last position was on November 26, south of the Dardanelles Strait, connecting the Aegean and Marmara Seas.
The US imposed sanctions on Virat in January this year, followed by the EU. SwitzerlandUK and CanadaThis is reported by the OpenSanctions website.
Similarly, the EU imposed sanctions on Kairos in July this year, followed by the UK and Switzerland.
RussiaThe US shadow tanker fleet continues to generate multi-billion dollar revenues Kremlinbypassing sanctions, disguising its activities under the flags of third countries.
They often use complex schemes to hide their owners and create a serious environmental threat, OpenSanctions said on the Kairos website.
The Virat, built in 2018, uses irregular and risky shipping methods and has previously sailed under the flags of Barbados, Comoros, Liberia and PanamaThis is reported by OpenSanctions.
Kairos, formerly known as Panama, Greek and Liberian, was built in 2002.
UkraineThe military intelligence service GUR reports on its website that both ships call at Russian ports and have story disabling their automatic identification systems that transmit the ship's location.
This comes as a Ukrainian peace delegation heads to the US to try to negotiate a ceasefire.
