— The war between Russia and Ukraine has clearly begun to threaten the safety of navigation in the Black Sea. The attacks on ships in our exclusive economic zone on Friday signal a disturbing escalation. We cannot in any way justify these attacks. We are providing all concerned parties with the necessary warnings regarding such incidents, Erdogan told reporters.
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What attacks does the Turkish president warn about?
What happened on Friday in the Black Sea?
What ships were targeted?
What is a shadow fleet?
Attacks on shadow fleet ships
On Friday, Türkiye announced that on two tankers, the so-called The Russian Shadow Fleet exploded. Both were sailing under the Gambian flag and were in the Black Sea near the Bosphorus Strait at the time of the explosions. One of these tankers, Virat, on Saturday he became the target of attacks again.
On Saturday, a representative of the Ukrainian authorities admitted that this was the case Ukrainian naval drones attacked two sanctioned tankerswhich sailed to a Russian port to load oil intended for foreign markets.
Both attacked tankers are located on list of ships subject to international sanctions, imposed on Russia following its aggression against Ukraine in February 2022. The ships were not carrying any cargo at the time of the attacks.
Shadow fleet These are old ships transporting Russian crude oil, which the Kremlin uses to sell the raw material at prices higher than the limit set by international sanctions for Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
