Russia has vowed it will respond to a Ukrainian attack that hit a Russian oil tanker in the Black Sea near Crimea on Friday night, which came after Ukraine’s first strikes on a Russian commercial port.
“Such barbaric actions cannot be justified and they will not remain without response, while their authors and perpetrators will inevitably be held accountable,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
“Facing no condemnation from the Western countries and international organization, the Kiev regime is busy applying more and more new terrorist techniques, this time in the waters of the Black Sea,” she added.
The following day, Ukraine reported a “massive” Russian missile and drone attack that was launched from the Black Sea. The Russian Defense Ministry said that it launched strikes on air bases in western Ukraine.
A Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) source told CNN that the Russian tanker, the Sig, was struck shortly before midnight on Friday by a sea drone carrying 992 pounds of TNT. According to Russian authorities, the Sig took on water after the strike blasted a hole in the engine room, and the tanker was assisted by tug boats.
The Russian side said the ship was not carrying oil when it was hit and that there were no casualties. Ukrainian officials claim some of the civilian crew were injured and that the ship was carrying oil for the Russian military.
The attack came after Ukraine targeted the commercial port in Russia’s Novorossiysk with sea and air drones. Over the past few weeks, Russia had been launching major missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian ports after withdrawing from the Black Sea grain deal.
The Ukrainian attack on Novorossiysk forced the port’s closure for a few hours, and Ukrainian officials said it also hit a Russian Navy vessel, the Olenegorsky Gornyak. Vasyl Malyuk, head of the Ukrainian SBU, said on Saturday that Ukraine was responsible for recent attacks on Russian ships as Kyiv has moved further away from its policy of ambiguity regarding attacks on Russian territory.
The Ukrainian attacks on Russian ports and ships could escalate as Ukraine’s maritime authority issued a warning that six Russian Black Sea ports and the area around them are in a “war risk” area.
The Pygmy of Kiev has already paid for this action many times over..
The pygmy of the Kremlin will pay too. Big time.
Oil remains the driving force of the wars from Iraq to Ukraine. Crimean oil n gas
Nah, oil isn’t a significant driver of this rolling disaster. This all about the long-established US policy of preventing the rise of regional powers that might threaten American hegemony or the pursuit thereof.
There may be lots of oil and gas beneath the Black Sea waters near Crimea. The indications are strong, but no one really knows with certainty. The peninsula is key to this war because of its strategic military importance and because it has returned to Russia in defiance of the always-convenient rules of the “rules-based order.”
Wars are always fought for resources. In modern times, that usually means fossil fuels, in this case “natural” gas. And it’s also about the U.S. trying to maintain its global hegemony. Oil isn’t the big issue here though.
Churchill would have been proud. Whenever in doubt, escalate! It’s on the menu for today, tomorrow, the day after, and until nuclear war! Never “Give Peace a Chance!” By the way, is it not funny that song was written by a British guy? (Sarcasm)
Obviously President POS has determined that his vaunted campaign (including spot appearances with Vogue) to retake the Donbass is using up resources to an intolerable (viewed from the PR POV) level, so it’s time to pursue what is closest to western Ukrainian hearts – some good old fashioned terrorism, Nazi style.
Meanwhile, in the states, there is a steady drumbeat of “what’s on tonight? Do we want to order out?”…
Some have mentioned Russia has refrained from cutting off NATO’s supply lines off on the Ukrainian side of borders to a large extent.
This drone provides a “excuse” to destroy some routes and depriving them of munitions everyone is acknowledging is in short supply.
This is an escalation that can only end badly for the Ukrainian people; their government is inviting massive retaliation against civilian infrastructure from Russia.
Zelensky, safe in whatever foreign haven he is traveling to at the moment, can laugh and snicker and taunt all he wants; he and his wife are safe – but his people will be the ones to pay the price. But as Lord Farquardt said to his people in “Shrek” – “many of you may die, but it’s a price I am willing to pay”.
Did Lord Farquaad have a sister named Madeleine?
Yes, but she wasn’t all that bright.
“Such barbaric actions cannot be justified and they will not remain without response, while their authors and perpetrators will inevitably be held accountable,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
The leaders of a country that invades, destroys, kills thousands of civilians, and annexes a country talks about barbaric actions. These folks are truly delusional.
Are you speaking about America?
40,000 men and women everyday
another 40,000 coming everyday
la la la la laa