By Tabora Bojang
Two Gambia-flagged crude oil tankers were hit by explosions in the Black Sea.
According to the BBC, the vessels carrying oil from Russia were hit off the Turkish coast on Friday by Ukraine’s naval forces using drones.
The targeted tankers were named by Turkish authorities as the Kairos and Virat, both flagged to The Gambia. The attacks appeared to be an escalation by Kyiv as it tries to hit Russia’s oil revenues, which are critical for funding its war in Ukraine. No casualties were reported in both vessels carrying 45 crew members. The two ships are reportedly part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” – a term that refers to the hundreds of tankers used by Moscow to bypass Western sanctions imposed after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Both vessels are placed under international sanctions by the US, UK, Switzerland, Canada and the EU.
