Russia halted transit across the Crimean bridge in the Kerch Strait for several hours after an attack by Ukrainian drones damaged a Russian tanker that was anchored in the southeast of the peninsula, Russian authorities reported on Telegram.
Traffic stopped at 11:26 p.m. local time (20:26 GMT) and resumed three hours later.
According to the Russian authorities, during the attack by Ukrainian naval drones the Russian tanker “Sig” suffered damage “in the engine compartment next to the starboard waterline.”
Despite the damage to the ship, it remained afloat.
“The SIG tanker… received a hole in the engine room near the waterline on the starboard side, preliminarily as a result of a marine drone strike,” the agency said in a statement on its messaging app. Telegram.
According to Russian authorities, the ship’s engine room was damaged in the overnight attack in the Kerch Strait with no casualties reported.
The Russian maritime agency itself reports that the tanker is located 17 miles (27 km) south of the Crimean bridge.
“We can’t sail without a tug. The engine room is completely flooded.” Conversation with the crew of the Sig tanker, which was hit by a water drone.
As a result of the explosion, several members of the tanker crew were cut by glass, there were no fatalities.
The detonation from the explosion on the ship was visible from the peninsula, which the locals considered an explosion in the area of ??the settlement.
Ukraine has so far not commented on the incident.
After the attack, which caused no human casualties, the Russian rescue services sent two tugboats to rescue the ship.
So far, the Russian Ministry of Defense has not informed about the incident.
The Crimean bridge, which links the annexed peninsula with the Russian mainland, has become a priority objective for the Ukrainian Army and has been damaged twice.
For this reason, Russia limited the navigation of all surface and submarine ships, as well as the anchoring of any type of vessel in the areas surrounding the bridge.
The flight and ditching of aircraft is also strictly prohibited, as is the presence of people in the water and other activities at sea. A Russian tanker with 11 crew members was hit in a Ukrainian attack in the Black Sea early in the morning this Saturday, as reported by the Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transport of Russia.
Naval drones are small unmanned vessels that operate above or below the surface of the water. Ukraine has carried out several marine drone strikes, including one on Friday on a Russian ship.
