The Russian chemical tanker SIG

Friday’s Coverage: Explosions at Naval Base Inside Russia

Map: Institute for Study of War

UPDATE 1840 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has summarized the first day of the international summit in Saudi Arabia, seeking an end to Russia’s invasion:

UPDATE 1154 GMT:

The Russian Defense Ministry claims its troops have finally captured a village in northeastern Ukraine after weeks of escalated attacks.

The Ministry said Novoselivske in the Luhansk region, in the direction of Kupyansk, was seized on Saturday.

Trying to blunt Ukraine’s two-month counter-offensive in eastern Ukraine, Russia has pursued its own assaults towards Lyman and Kupyansk, both liberated by Ukraine last autumn.

Ukraine Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar acknowledged, “The number of enemy attacks has increased. Heavy fighting is taking place.”

UPDATE 1107 GMT:

Ukraine’s maritime authorities warn that Russian Black Sea ports and the approaches to them will be considered “war risk areas” from August 23.

UPDATE 1033 GMT:

An international summit has begun in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on how to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Representatives of about 40 countries — including Ukraine, but not Russia — have gathered. Significantly, India and South Africa are attending, and China is sending its special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui.

UPDATE 0957 GMT:

The independent Russian outlet Meduza comments on the extension of the prison sentence of opposition politician Alexei Navalny from 11 1/2 to 30 1/2 years (see 0606 GMT), as well as the 25-year punishment of activist Vladimir Kara-Murza.

In Navalny’s case, like in that of Vladimir Kara-Murza — who was also the target of a poisoning attempt before his imprisonment — it’s important to remember that these sentences are nothing more than elaborate murder attempts.

There can be no reasonable doubt that it was precisely the Russian authorities who tried to kill both men. And judging by the treatment Navalny has received in the prison where he’s currently being held, they haven’t abandoned this goal.

UPDATE 0938 GMT:

A Ukrainian “security service source” tells Agence France Presse, “Overnight the [Ukraine security service] SBU blew up the SIG, a large oil tanker of the Russian Federation that was transporting fuel for Russian troops.”

The source said the operation, carried out jointly with the Ukrainian navy, involved a naval drone and explosives.

The SIG is “one of the most powerful oil tankers of the Russian Federation”, the source said. “It was well-loaded with fuel, so the fireworks could be seen from afar.”

Another security source told the BBC that 450 kg (990 pounds) of TNT explosive was used.

Earlier on Saturday, SBU head Vasyl Malyuk did not explicitly claim responsibility: “Such special operations are conducted in the territorial waters of Ukraine and are completely legal….[They are] an absolutely logical and effective step with regard to the enemy.”

UPDATE 0645 GMT:

UK military intelligence summarizes a “significant blow” to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet with Friday’s Ukrainian sea drone strike on the landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak in the Russian port of Novorossiysk.

The analysts note that the warship is “the largest Russian naval vessel seriously damaged or destroyed” since the cruiser Moskva, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet flagship, was sunk on April 13, 2022.

The intelligence note emphasizes that the Black Sea Fleet had relocated most Russian warships to Novorossiysk for security, following Ukrainian attacks on Moscow’s naval facilities in Russian-occupied Crimea.

UPDATE 0606 GMT:

On Friday, the prison sentence of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was extended from 11 1/2 years to 30 1/2. The additional 19 years are to be served in a “special regime” colony — Russia’s most severe prison.

The further punishment of Navalny, who survived an assassination attempt by Novichok nerve agent in 2020, was based on charges of inciting and financing extremism, creating an illegal NGO, rehabilitating Nazism, and inciting children to dangerous acts.

Navalny responded on social media that the number of years in his sentence does not matter: “Like many political prisoners, I am sitting on a life sentence.” He continued:

The sentencing figure is not for me. It is for you. You, not me, are being frightened and deprived of the will to resist. You are being forced to surrender your country of Russia without a fight to the gang of traitors, thieves, and scoundrels who have seized power.

Putin must not achieve his goal. Do not lose the will to resist.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Drones have struck a Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait, a day after one of Moscow’s warships was badly damaged by Ukrainian unmanned boats near a Russian port.

Explosions were heard late Friday night near the Kerch Bridge — which itself has been damaged twice since October by blasts — between Russia’s Krasnodar region and Russian-occupied Crimea.

The vessel has been identified as the chemical tanker SIG, under US sanctions for supplying jet fuel to Russian forces propping up the Assad regime in Syria.

Russia’s Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport, Rosmorrechflot, said the tanker was attacked about 11:20 p.m.:

A hole was received in the engine room near the waterline on the starboard side, presumably as a result of an attack by a marine drone. The ship was on the southern approach to the Kerch Strait.

Two tugboats are assisting the stricken tanker, and the Kerch Bridge was closed for three hours. Russian officials said the explosions were only on the vessel, which had 11 people on board. No fuel was spilled.

On Friday morning, the Olenegorsky Gornyak, one of the three landing craft used in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was struck by a naval drone near the Russian base at Novorossiysk in the Krasndor region.

The 112-meter (367-foot) long warship has been transporting Russian troops and military hardware into occupied Ukrainian ports. It was built in the 1970s, with a capacity of 450 tons in cargo and 25 armored personnel carriers.