File image.
A third tanker came under attack in the Black Sea just hours after Russia announced the capture of the city of Krasnoarmeysk, more known as Pokrovsk, in Donetsk and the city of Vovchansk in Kharkiv.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed of the “liberation” of the two key cities by the chief of the country’s General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, during a visit to a frontline command center late on November 30, according to presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov.
“Late on November 30, Russian President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin visited a command post of the Joint Force. He heard reports by Chief of the General Staff [Valery] Gerasimov, Commander of the Battlegroup Center [Valery] Solodchuk, and Commander of the Battlegroup East [Andrey] Ivanayev,” Peskov said late on December 1.
“Army General Gerasimov reported to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief about the liberation of the cities of Krasnoarmeysk in the DPR and Volchansk in the Kharkov Region, as well as about the results of offensive operations in other areas,” he added.
Solodchuk also reported to Putin about the progress in the elimination of a Ukrainian battlegroup near the Krasnoarmeysk-Dimitrov agglomeration, “including about taking the southern part of the city of Dimitrov under the control of Russian forces, and about the situation in Krasnoarmeysk after it was liberated by our forces.”
In addition, Putin was informed that the operation to liberate Gulyaypole, also known as Huliaipole, in Zaporozhye has begun, with street fighting already underway. The president “gave new directives to provide the troops with everything necessary for combat operations during the coming winter,” Peskov noted.
The defeat in Pokrovsk and Vovchansk was nothing short of catastrophic for Ukraine, not just because of the strategic location of both cities, but also because of the large amount of resources Kiev forces wasted while attempting to hold onto to both of them.
Ukrainian losses in the two cities were so colossal, especially when it comes to manpower, that they degraded the military capabilities of the country across the special military operation zone. The losses also led to an unprecedented decline in the morale of Kiev forces, with many cases of surrender and disorganized retreats being reported on a regular basis.
This degradation was most notable in the direction of Gulyaypole, where well-prepared Ukrainian defenses located along natural barriers, like the Yanchur and Haichur rivers, collapsed within a few weeks. The battle in the city will not likely take as long as in Pokrovsk or Vovchansk.
Early on December 2, just hours after the Ukrainian defeat in Pokrovsk and Vovchansk became known, a Russian-flagged tanker came under attack in the Black Sea in the third such incident in the last few days.
Turkey’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure’s General Directorate of Maritime Affairs said in a statement that the MIDVOLGA-2 tanker, which was carrying sunflower oil, reported being attacked about 80 nautical miles off the country’s coast.
“The ship, which currently has no adverse conditions among its 13 personnel, has issued no request for assistance. The ship is proceeding towards Sinop on its own engines,” officials said, without identifying the culprit behind the strike.
Russia’s Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport said later that the tanker had been attacked by an suicide aerial drone and had sustained some minor damage.
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- Click to see full-size image. (Telegram)
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- Click to see full-size image. (Telegram)
Last week, specifically on November 28, multiple suicide drone boats struck two Gambian-flagged tankers, the Kairos and the Virat, off the coast of Turkey. Later, Ukraine described the attack as a joint operation involving the Security Service of Ukraine, more known by its acronym the SBU, and the navy.
The latest attack was most certainly also carried out by Ukraine in an attempt to make up for the defeats in Pokrovsk and Vovchansk.
Interestingly, the attack also represents a direct challenge to Turkey. Just a day earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called such attacks in the Black Sea unacceptable, issuing a warning to “all related sides”.
“The war between Russia and Ukraine has clearly begun to threaten navigational safety in the Black Sea. The targeting of vessels in our Exclusive Economic Zone on Friday [November 28] signals a worrying escalation,” Erdogan told reporters.
“We cannot justify these attacks in any way. We are conveying the necessary warnings to all relevant sides regarding such incidents,” he added.
Ukraine has clearly reached a level of desperation where it is willing to go as far as triggering a country like Turkey, which sold weapons to its forces in the past, in order to score any point that could help it improve its disastrous stance in the ongoing peace talks.
All of these developments took place just hours before a very important meeting in Moscow between United States President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, with Putin, where the main topic will be Ukraine.
The defeat in Pokrovsk and Vovchansk has certainly weakened the stance of Ukraine, and the latest tanker attack in the Black Sea has likely made things even worse for Kiev, especially considering that Russia has so far refrained from taking part in this tanker war.
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