First-Ever Ukrainian Attack On A Russian ‘Shadow Fleet’ Tanker In Mediterranean Sea

Ukraine is hailing a “new, unprecedented special operation” after a Russia-linked oil tanker was attacked off the coast of Libya. Needless to say these waters are very distant from anywhere Ukraine operates in the war with Moscow forces.

Officials within the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) are being quoted in international reports as saying the SBU deployed a drone in the Mediterranean which struck a so-called “shadow fleet” tanker used by Russia.

This would mark the first ever such Ukrainian attack on Russia’s shadow fleet in the Mediterranean sea, involving aerial drones utilized some 1,250 miles (2,000km) from its borders.

No details were given as to precisely how such an operation so distant from Ukraine’s borders was carried out, but the ship was reportedly empty at the time of being hit, and so potential environmental disasters have been ruled out.

The now damaged tanker has since been identified as the Oman-flagged Qendil. It was subject of a series of explosions after the drone directly hit its deck.

The SBU released footage of the attack to several Western media outlets, including BBC:

The SBU told the BBC this was its first such attack in neutral waters. BBC Verify has confirmed the shape of the ship in the video is consistent with available pictures of the Qendil. We also put frames from the video through a reverse-image search on Google to check it is new.

Location data transmitted by the Qendil put it 96 nautical miles south-west of the Greek island of Crete a few hours ago. Ship-tracking tool MarineTraffic shows the tanker entered the Mediterranean from the Suez Canal on 16 December.

Watch brief drone footage as the attack played out:

Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service struck the Russian tanker “QENDIL”, part of the so called ‘shadow fleet’, whilst it was sailing in the Mediterranean, according to Ukrainian outlet RBC. The attack took place more than 2,000km from Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/PrdZgwNibP

— Jimmy Rushton (@JimmySecUK) December 19, 2025

Ukraine emphasized and boasted: “The SBU for the first time hit a tanker of the Russian ‘shadow fleet’ in the neutral waters of the Mediterranean Sea.”

It follows an SBU strike on a Russian Kilo-class submarine which was docked at a key Russian Black Sea port, utilizing an underwater drone which seemed to easily get past all Russian defensive counter-measures. Ukraine has been losing ground along the front lines in east, but has become more and more effective at these types of irregular warfare operations – yet it will do nothing to change the tide of battlelines.