Sea drones halt operations at major Russian oil terminal

DRONE STRIKES LEAVE KYIV IN DARKNESS

Residents in Kyiv endured hours of explosions through the night. Burnt-out vehicles and scorched apartment buildings were visible at sunrise.

More than 600,000 people nationwide were without power, including 500,000 in Kyiv, the energy ministry said. Russia said it struck infrastructure supporting Ukraine’s military industry. Ukraine said civilian sites had been hit deliberately.

“There was a piece of debris next to the bed, which hit the bed and got stuck,” said local media worker Galyna Bondarenko.

Another resident, Natalia Shkoda, said both her and her husband’s cars were destroyed. “When I went outside, I saw it burning,” she said.

UKRAINE CLAIMS ATTACK ON ‘SHADOW FLEET’ TANKERS

Separately, a Ukrainian security source told AFP that modified sea drones struck two tankers in the Black Sea. The tankers, the Virat and the Kairos, were travelling near Turkey’s coast to load sanctioned Russian oil.

Turkish officials said both ships were hit late Friday and one was struck again on Saturday morning. Ukraine calls the vessels part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” used to bypass Western sanctions.

The war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, has killed tens of thousands of civilians and troops and displaced millions.