Ukraine is now targeting Russian shipping lanes in the Black Sea, the Wall Street Journal reports.
In a new modern tactic, Ukraine has been using sea drones to attack Russian oil shipments. The vehicles are unmanned ships packed with explosives, functioning as “kamikazes” against Russian targets. This is a modern twist of the ancient “fire ship” tactic, which England used against the Spanish Armada in 1588.
Following the sinking of the Russian cruiser flagship, the Moskva, Ukraine has relentlessly struck out to deny Russia the use of the Sea, even if Ukraine itself was also blocked from operating there. Ukraine has expanded the scope of maritime targets to include civilian ones for particular legal reasons:
Moscow’s use of civilian ships to carry supplies including weapons for the Russian armed forces has been a rising source of tension in the region. Ukrainian officials have called on Turkey to block ships carrying arms from transiting the Bosporus into the Black Sea.
Turkey decided last year to implement a clause in the Montreux Convention that barred Russia from bringing additional warships into the Black Sea. Turkish officials have said they can’t block civilian ships, even those working for the Russian government, because the treaty guarantees freedom of navigation for commercial vessels
With both Ukrainian and Russian ships under threat, global insurance providers will most likely not approve of commercial shipping in the region. While the end of Ukraine’s grain deal cut much of its exports from the world, Russia will now also suffer from exports to the rest of the world.
