The Turkish Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure informed about the attack on Midvolga-2 130 km from the coast of Turkey in the morning.
“Ukraine has nothing to do with this incident, and we officially refute any accusations of this kind made by Russian propaganda,” Tikhiy wrote in X.
According to him, the declared route from the aggressor country of the Russian Federation to Georgia through the exclusive economic zone of Turkey “does not make sense.”
“And it suggests that Russia could have staged this whole situation,” said the speaker of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
Ukraine has nothing to do with this incident, and we officially refute any accusation of such kind made by Russian propaganda. Furthermore, the alleged route from Russia to Georgia across Türkiye's EEZ makes no sense—and suggests that Russia may have staged the whole thing. https://t.co/bA8tXEjQHt
— Heorhii Tykhyi (@SpoxUkraineMFA) December 2, 2025
Context
Earlier, on November 28, the media reported about a fire on the tankers Virat and Kairos. They were attacked off the coast of Turkey on their way to the Russian port of Novorossiysk. Both vessels probably belong to the “shadow fleet” of the Russian Federation, fly the Gambian flag and are subject to international sanctions.
On the morning of November 29, the tanker Virat was damaged again in the Black Sea off the coast of Turkey. The SBU took responsibility for the Sea Baby maritime drone strikes.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on December 1 called the attacks on the occupiers' ships “an alarming escalation of the situation.” According to him, the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine has reached a point where it threatens the safety of navigation in the Black Sea. He noted that Türkiye sends the necessary warnings to all parties regarding such situations.
On December 2, illegitimate Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to “expand the range” of attacks by the aggressor country of the Russian Federation on “port facilities and ships that enter Ukrainian ports” in response to attacks on tankers in the Black Sea. “The most radical way,” according to the illegitimate Russian president, “is to cut off Ukraine from the sea.”
