Ukraine's drone forces struck 14 more Russian "shadow fleet" vessels in the Azov Sea overnight on 9 July, pushing the four-day total to 35 ships, Unmanned Systems Forces (SBS) commander Robert "Madyar" Brovdi said. The overnight haul included 12 tankers, one cargo ship, and one tug. The strikes ran alongside a wave of attacks on occupied Crimea's power grid and air defenses, and a blackout hit the occupied part of Kherson Oblast.
35 vessels in 96 hours
Brovdi shared a video of the strikes and reported that drone crews hit 14 Russian shadow fleet vessels overnight — 12 tankers, one cargo ship, and one tug, all in the Azov Sea. That brings the toll to 35 tankers, cargo ships, and special-purpose craft in 96 hours. He named the struck ships, most flying the Russian flag, but also including the Panama-flagged, sanctioned tanker Galiaskar Kamal and the tug Alfeo towing a barge named Aphrodite.
The SBS separately said operators of the 1st Center, the 20th K-2 Brigade, the 412th Nemesis Brigade, and the 413th Raid Regiment carried out the strikes. It stressed that Russia keeps exporting oil through the shadow fleet despite sanctions, funneling the revenue into its war. The Deep Strike Center, operating within the SBS since December 2025, coordinated all the targets.
Brovdi's four-day chronology shows the campaign building night by night: two tankers on 6 July, ten vessels on the 7th, nine on the 8th, and fourteen on the 9th. Several vessels, including the Sanar-17 and Klimena, appear twice — struck, then struck again.
Russia tows damaged tankers into Kerch
Exilenova+ published a satellite image showing Russia driving hit sanctioned tankers into the occupied port of Kerch. The channel said the vessels are polluting the Azov Sea. NASA FIRMS satellite monitoring also logged new thermal anomalies in the sea's waters near the Crimean coast, pointing to fresh strikes on ships.
The NASA FIRMS wild fire monitoring service shows fires north of Kerch in the southern part of the Sea of Azov, and near Russia's Taganrog — on the northeastern end of the Azov Sea.
Rostov Oblast Governor Yuri Slyusar confirmed that drones attacked two tankers in Taganrog Bay. Crews were evacuated and no one was hurt, he claimed. The night before, two other tankers heading to Rostov-on-Don were hit in the same bay.
Three days, 21 ships: Russia’s Azov Sea fuel run to occupied Crimea is turning into a shooting gallery
Crimea's grid and military sites hit
The same night, drone crews struck 45 military targets across occupied Crimea and the occupied south, Brovdi said. Among the Crimean targets: the Saky thermal power plant, three fuel depots, a "Zhitel" jamming station, communication towers, and fuel trucks. Six more electrical substations went dark under the "Crimean switch-off" pool — 50 energy nodes hit between 1 and 8 July.
Russia wrapped its fuel tanks in protective nets—Ukraine’s drones burned them regardless: two oil depots burned last night
In the occupied part of Kherson Oblast, the Russian-installed occupation head, Vladimir Saldo, reported a power outage the same night.
Read also
-
Ukraine’s drones are sinking Crimea’s fuel lifeline, hitting 12 Russian tankers in 2 days
-
Ukraine hits Russian airbase in Crimea; major strikes target backbone of Moscow’s logistics across occupied Ukraine
-
Ukraine hits at least seven Russian warplanes in second strike on Crimea’s Saky airbase this week, SBU says
