Russian chemical tanker hit in Ukrainian attack near Crimean Bridge, Moscow claims

A Russian chemical tanker has been hit in a Ukrainian attack close to the Crimean Bridge in the Black Sea, according to Moscow.

The engine room of the SIG vessel with 11 crew onboard was damaged in the overnight strike in the Kerch Strait which left no injuries.

A Ukrainian security service source told the Interfax agency the attack was carried out by Ukraine’s security and naval forces in its territorial waters using sea drones.

A security source told the BBC that 450kg of TNT explosive was used in the mission, which came a day after a Russian warship was severely damaged by a marine drone attack on the port of Novorossiysk.

The ship was struck around 17 miles south of the Crimean Bridge linking Russia to Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014 and has been hit twice in suspected Ukrainian attacks.

Ferry transport were suspended for several hours after the attack, said Russia-installed officials in Crimea.

“The SIG tanker… received a hole in the engine room near the waterline on the starboard side, preliminarily as a result of a sea drone attack,” Russia’s Federal Marine and River Transport agency said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Traffic on the Crimen Bridge resumed on Saturday, Tass reports, after it was suspended around 11.30pm Moscow time (9.30pm UK time).

Two tugboats arrived at the scene to tow the tanker.

Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency said three explosions had been reported in the area.

A Russian-appointed official in Ukraine’s southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, Vladimir Rogov, posted an audio clip in which the tanker requested a tow from tugboats.

Rogov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, posted pictures of what he described as shattered fixtures and equipment inside the vessels. Telegram channels linked to Russia’s security services posted similar photos.

The ship, Rogov said, had been supplying oil to Russian troops in Syria.

On Friday, footage emerged that apparently showed a Russian warship being badly damaged by a marine drone attack on the port of Novorossiysk.

The video was apparently shot by a camera mounted on a sea drone as it closed on a vessel before the feed cuts out, in the first known attack on a Russian commercial port during the war.

Russia claimed to have destroyed the drones involved in the attack but footage posted in the aftermath of the incident appeared to show the Olenegorsky Gornyak vessel listing to one side as it was towed to port.