Ukraine’s military has sharply escalated its drone campaign against Russian fuel tankers in the Sea of Azov, striking at least 25 vessels in four days and triggering a domestic fuel shortage that prompted the Kremlin to ban diesel exports until the end of July. The Ukrainian general staff said overnight strikes targeted ships used to supply the Russian army and to circumvent sanctions on crude and petroleum products, while the commander of Ukraine’s drone forces, Robert Brovdi, reported that two of the tankers were each carrying about 7,000 tonnes of fuel bound for occupied Crimea. Satellite imagery analysed by BBC Verify showed a large smoke plume from a vessel off the Crimean coast and around 20 other ships departing the area southward toward the Black Sea.

Viewed from Kyiv, the maritime strikes form part of a self-declared “logistics lockdown” of the peninsula, complementing earlier attacks on road and rail corridors. President Volodymyr Zelensky has described the targeting of refineries and fuel depots as a legitimate response to Russian strikes, arguing that Russians must “feel that it is their state that is waging war”. In Moscow, the government acknowledged the shortages by banning almost all gasoline, jet fuel and diesel exports, while Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the move would increase domestic supply. Regional governors in Rostov and Lipetsk reported fires on tankers and appealed for federal assistance, with Lipetsk’s governor warning that the crisis threatened emergency services, the harvest and public safety.

Analysts in London and European trading circles note that the export ban arrives at a moment of acute global diesel scarcity. The war between the United States and Iran had already forced large stock drawdowns and driven up diesel costs by more than 50 per cent in many markets. Russia’s seaborne diesel exports had already collapsed to 1.8 million tonnes in June, a 39 per cent drop from May, and were on track to fall further in July, according to commodity data firm Kpler. Viewed from Brasília, the ban directly threatens Brazil, the third-largest importer of Russian diesel, where imports from Russia fell 65 per cent between May and June even before the formal prohibition. The Russian government has also begun importing gasoline by sea from India, a reversal that European trading sources described as a de facto export ban already in place.

Western officials and Ukrainian defence experts attribute the reach of the strikes to a combination of longer-range surveillance drones and intelligence-sharing arrangements that shifted after Washington curtailed certain forms of intelligence for operations inside Russia in March 2025. French President Emmanuel Macron stated in January that two-thirds of the intelligence Ukraine now receives comes from France. Ukrainian operators cited the American-made V-BAT reconnaissance drone, manufactured by Shield AI, as providing unique range and endurance for identifying targets and mapping Russian air defences. The Ukrainian defence ministry reported that strikes more than 30 miles beyond the front line nearly doubled in June. The next phase of the campaign is expected to focus on further isolating Crimea, with Ukrainian officials stating that their drone forces will soon turn the peninsula “into an island”.