Astana, Feb 9 (EFE).- Ukraine was not behind the attacks on January 13 against two Greek-flagged tankers in the Black Sea that were waiting to be loaded with Kazakh oil, Ukrainian Ambassador to Astana Victor Mayko told EFE on Monday.
“It made no sense for Ukraine to attack these two oil tankers,” said the diplomat, who claimed that the attack was carried out by small drones launched from Russian territory.
Mayko admitted that on the same day, two tankers from the Russian shadow fleet carrying oil from Russia were attacked by Ukrainian drones.
“The two Russian tankers were attacked with heavy drones, capable of flying thousands of kilometers from Ukrainian territory to Novorossiysk. These are heavy, long-range drones whose target was precisely the tankers carrying Russian crude oil,” he said.
However, he maintained that “the Greek tankers were attacked with small drones, which are not capable of covering distances of thousands of kilometers from Ukraine.”
“They were launched from (the city of) Novorossiysk or from the port, and they were not Ukrainian,” he concluded.
The Ukrainian diplomat urged Kazakh media to exercise caution when using information from Russian sources.
January attacks on oil tankers
Two Greek oil tankers chartered by Kazakh companies were attacked with drones in mid-January about 30 nautical miles west of the Russian terminal of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, without causing significant damage or injuries.
The ships involved were the Delta Harmony and Matilda, owned by Greek shipping companies Delta Tankers and Thenamaris, which were attacked while waiting to load oil from two Kazakh companies.
The Delta Harmony was attacked by drones—it is unclear whether these were aerial or marine drones or a combination of both—causing a fire on the ship that was quickly extinguished by the crew.
The second, the Matilda, chartered by a subsidiary of the Kazakh state oil company KazMunayGas, was attacked by another drone, causing an explosion that did not result in a fire.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, an international initiative by large companies from Kazakhstan, the United States, Russia, and several European countries, has a terminal at Novorossiysk. The consortium transports oil from western Kazakhstan to the Russian coast for loading and shipment to market.
This was the fourth attack on the consortium, with previous targets including the Kropotkinskaya pumping station and offices in Novorossiysk.
On November 29, a marine drone struck a maritime cargo terminal in Novorossiysk, on the Black Sea, causing “considerable damage to the VPU-2 cargo terminal” and losses of between $70 million and $100 million for Kazakhstan. EFE