Turkish authorities said Tuesday that another tanker has come under attack in the Black Sea while traveling from Russia to Georgia, the latest in a series of incidents that have raised concern about the safety of commercial shipping in the region.
The tanker, the Midvolga 2, "reported that it was attacked 80 nautical miles off our coast," Turkey's maritime affairs directorate wrote on X. The vessel, which was carrying sunflower oil and had 13 crew members aboard, did not request assistance and reported no injuries or damage, the directorate added.
The incident followed explosions that struck two other tankers off Turkey's coast on Friday. A Ukrainian security official later told AFP that Ukraine's military had carried out those earlier strikes, saying drones targeted vessels "covertly transporting Russian oil."
The Midvolga 2 was heading toward the port of Sinop on Turkey's central Black Sea coast, a stretch of shoreline running roughly 1,600 kilometers (994 miles) along the sea's southern edge.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday condemned the earlier drone attacks as a "worrying escalation," saying Turkey "cannot under any circumstances accept these attacks."
The war between Russia and Ukraine, Erdogan said, had now reached a point where it "threatens the safety of navigation in the Black Sea."
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