Ukraine’s special forces have claimed responsibility for a rare strike on two Russian vessels transporting weapons and military equipment in the Caspian Sea.

In a statement released on Friday, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces said the operation was carried out together with a Russian resistance group known as Chernaya Iskra (Black Spark).

The forces said the vessels were hit off the coast of Russia’s Republic of Kalmykia. However, they did not disclose when the strike took place, how it was carried out, or the extent of damage to the ships.

The Ukrainian statement identified the vessels as Kompozitor Rakhmaninov (Composer Rakhmaninoff) and Askar-Saridzha. According to the special forces, both ships are used by Russia for military purposes and are under US sanctions for transporting military cargo between Iran and Russia. The resistance movement was said to have provided detailed information about the ships’ routes and cargo.

Separately, a Ukrainian official told Reuters on Thursday that Kyiv’s drones had struck a Russian oil production platform in the Caspian Sea earlier this week.

The official said the attack disabled oil and gas extraction from around 20 wells, describing it as the first Ukrainian strike on a Russian facility involved in oil production in the region.

Ukraine’s special forces said the Caspian Sea operation formed part of what they described as asymmetric actions aimed at undermining Russia’s offensive capabilities. They added that this was the second successful Ukrainian strike against Russian targets in the Caspian Sea within two days.

Earlier this month, a sanctioned Russian tanker in the Black Sea, part of Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet, was reportedly put out of operation.

In late November, Ukrainian Sea Baby naval drones struck two other Russian shadow fleet tankers, Kairo and Virat, in the Black Sea.

Hours after news of the claimed Caspian Sea strike, a bulk carrier in Ukraine’s Odesa region was damaged during a Russian attack. Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that the vessel caught fire while at the port of Chornomorsk, one of the region’s three major Black Sea ports.

The Russian strike followed recent warnings from Moscow that it could seek to cut Ukraine off from the sea in response to Kyiv’s use of sea drones against tankers exporting Russian oil.

Reference: Reuters