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Ukraine Drone Strike Shuts Russia’s Biggest Baltic Oil Port, Hits Shadow Fleet Tankers
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![Photo of Ivan Khomenko]( "Photo of Ivan Khomenko")
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) carried out a drone attack on the Russian oil terminal in Primorsk, striking multiple tankers belonging to Moscow’s shadow fleet.
According to Reuters on September 12, two Aframax-class tankers, Kusto and Cai Yun, registered under Seychelles and Sierra Leone flags, were damaged in the strike. One of the tankers, Kusto, has a capacity of roughly 700,000 barrels of crude oil.
Industry sources told Reuters that loading operations at Primorsk were suspended following the attack. It remains unclear if full operations have been restored.
Primorsk has an export capacity of about 1 million barrels of crude oil per day, making it Russia’s largest oil terminal on the Baltic and a key hub for the country’s flagship Urals crude as well as around 300,000 barrels of diesel fuel daily.
Local outlet Astra reported that one of the drones crashed near Berth 8, where a Hong Kong-flagged tanker named Phosphor was loading diesel, causing a fire and halting terminal activity.
Another drone hit the Cai Yun tanker at Berth 2, triggering heavy smoke and the evacuation of staff. A third strike ignited a fire aboard the Kusto, forcing the evacuation of its 28-person crew.
The governor of the Leningrad region stated that more than 30 drones had been intercepted overnight, but confirmed that one tanker and a pumping station were damaged. These claims cannot be independently verified.
“In the port, open fire on one of the vessels has been extinguished. There is no threat of sinking or oil spill,” he wrote on Telegram.
However, photographs shared by local residents and published by Ukrainian media indicated significant fires and an oil spill, contradicting Russian claims.
Earlier, on September 7, Ukrainian drones struck fuel tanks at the same Vtorovo station, damaging operational reserves used to stabilize pipeline pressure.
