Ukraine's drone forces struck nine more Russian "shadow fleet" tankers in the Azov Sea overnight on 8 July, Unmanned Systems Forces (SBS) commander Robert "Madyar" Brovdi said. The strikes extend a three-day maritime operation against fuel shipments bound for occupied Crimea, running alongside attacks on the peninsula's power grid. A Russian governor separately confirmed two tanker hits in his region's waters, while Ukraine's SBU security service reported more strikes on a key Crimean airbase.
21 vessels in 72 hours
Brovdi reported that drone crews "worked over" nine more Russian shadow fleet tankers during the night. That brings the toll to 21 vessels in 72 hours: 19 sanctioned tankers, one cargo ship, and one ferry in occupied Kerch. Pilots of the "Kairos" unit from the 414th "Madyar's Birds" Brigade, the 413th "Raid" Regiment, and the 1st Center of the Unmanned Systems Forces carried out the strikes. Kerch is located in the south-southwest of the Sea of Azov.
The operation began on 6 July. Over its first two nights, Ukrainian drones hit 12 tankers hauling gasoline across the Azov Sea toward the occupied peninsula.
Russian governor confirms hits in Taganrog Bay
Rostov Oblast Governor Yuri Slyusar stated that drones attacked tankers in Taganrog Bay overnight as the vessels sailed toward Rostov-on-Don. The attack damaged the ships and injured two people, he claimed. Rostov Oblast's Azov coast is in the sea's northeast.
"The crew had to be evacuated from one of the vessels. The tankers were empty, and no spill of oil products occurred. Information on the consequences will be clarified," Slyusar wrote.
He also claimed Russian air defenses downed around 70 drones attacking 11 districts of Rostov Oblast during the night.
50 energy nodes cut in eight days
The same night, drone crews hit 53 military targets in the operational depth of occupied Crimea and the occupied south, Brovdi said. Six more electrical substations went dark under the "Crimean switch-off" pool — exactly 50 energy nodes hit between 1 and 8 July. Other "sensitive objects" were hit too, with a full report to follow, the commander said.
The newly created Deep Strike Center of the Unmanned Systems Forces coordinated all targets. The energy strikes extend an expanding campaign that struck 37 energy facilities across the occupied south in the first five days of July.
SBU hits Dzhankoi airbase and Russian drone units
Ukraine's SBU security service said the same morning that its Alpha special operations unit spent the past week striking priority targets across occupied territories. At the Dzhankoi military airbase, drones hit relay stations for Russian Orion strike-reconnaissance drones and depots holding weapons and equipment. Strikes also reached the "Krym" port infrastructure in occupied Kerch and ammunition and fuel depots in Novohryhorivka and Chervone.
The SBU destroyed a logistics hub near Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast stocked with drones, ground robotic systems, and ammunition. Its drones hit bases of Russian drone crews in Komysh-Zoria and Kamianka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Depots in Hranitne and Styla in Donetsk Oblast were also destroyed. The strikes killed Russian drone pilots and unit commanders, the agency said.
