Some crew members of the Russian chemical tanker Sig were injured by shards of glass during an attack by Ukrainian marine drones in the Kerch Strait tonight, Russian authorities said. The vessel was damaged and two tugs arrived at the scene. According to Moscow media, it is the chemical tanker subject to American sanctions for having supplied fuel to the Russian forces rushed to aid the regime of Bashar al-Assad during the war in Syria. Traffic on the bridge linking the Moscow-annexed Crimea peninsula to Russia was suspended for three hours before resuming early Saturday morning, according to the highway information centre. The Kerch bridge is the only bridge of its kind that connects Crimea to Russia and is used in particular for the transport of material to the Moscow military on the Ukrainian front.
Explosions occurred in the early hours of today near the Crimean Bridge, according to local media. Moscow media say a marine drone attack in the Kerch Strait targeted the Russian chemical tanker Sig and a rescue team was dispatched to the scene. The Sea Rescue Coordination Center in the Russian city of Novorossiysk told the Tass news agency that the tanker’s “engine room” was “damaged, although not much”.
“The explosion of the Russian tanker Sig carrying fuel for the Moscow troops was a special operation of the Ukrainian military services and the Navy”, writes Rbc-Ukraine citing intelligence sources and specifying that the explosion was caused from a surface drone with 450 kilos of TNT. The tanker was loaded with fuel and was in Ukrainian territorial waters, near the Crimean Bridge. Since 2019, this ship has been subject to US sanctions for transporting oil and fuel from Russia to Syria.
Ukrainian media have released an audio recording in which the crew of the tanker Sig hit by a surface drone in the Kerch Strait in the night report that the ship cannot move by itself as the engine room is flooded. According to the Russian media Baza, the Sig was in one of the areas of the Kavkaz cargo port. The impact of the drone affected the engine compartment and the pump room. The crew is currently handling towing in port. The sailors on board suffered abrasions, Baza reports by posting images of the damage inside the cargo on Telegram. Sig is one of the largest tankers in the Russian Federation (built in 2014, almost 5,000 tons).
Alarm in Lithuania for Wagner
Vilnius will close two of its six border crossings with Belarus over concerns over the presence of Wagner mercenaries, Lithuanian Deputy Interior Minister Arnoldas Abramavicius said: “We are preparing the decision to close two checkpoints next week, the Country must be ready to completely seal the border at any moment,” he said, quoted by the Guardian. The crossing points are those of Sumsko and Tvereciaus. Lithuania and Poland are considering a joint decision to completely close the border with Belarus. Lithuania is a member of NATO.
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