Ukraine drones hit 11 Russian vessels in Sea of Azov

Ukraine’s drones hit 11 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov overnight, and Moscow answered by accusing Kyiv of terrorism. It pushed pressure onto a narrow waterway that links the Black Sea to Russian-controlled shipping routes, where grain, fuel and military logistics all move through the same contested corridor.

Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, said the targets included five tankers, five dry cargo vessels and one tugboat. He said the campaign had reached 116 vessels struck over the past nine days as part of Operation MoLoChKa, which he described as aimed at Russia’s feeder fleet, small and medium flat-bottomed tankers about 140 meters long and roughly 7,000 tonnes deadweight.

Shipping in the Sea of Azov remained restricted for security reasons after earlier Ukrainian attacks on tankers and other commercial vessels, with curbs on entering and exiting the sea taking effect on Friday, July 10. Euronext wheat futures rose as much as 4% to a six-week high.

The Sea of Azov is shallow, crowded and connected to the Black Sea only by the Kerch Strait, a chokepoint Russia has controlled since its 2014 annexation of Crimea. The sea also borders Russian-occupied territory in southern Ukraine, including the area around Mariupol, making it a corridor for both military supply and grain export logistics. The disruptions were the biggest blow to Black Sea grain trade since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia’s Agriculture Ministry said it was preparing to use alternative shipping routes and could shift cargo to other transport modes, while insisting domestic food supply and export capacity would not be affected. A separate attack on July 11, which hit 13 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov including 10 tankers, led Russia to temporarily stop shipping through the Don-Azov Channel.