Russia News

"During the last two weeks of July, dirty tanker loadings from Russian Black Sea and Sea of Azov ports fell 62% compared to the previous four weeks’ average. Exports averaged 0.98 million barrels per day (mbpd) compared to 2.59 mbpd in the previous four weeks,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.On July 6, 2026, Ukraine launched Operation MoLoChKa, a large-scale maritime drone campaign initially focused on Russia-linked shipping in the Sea of Azov. According to Ukraine…

Last week's Ukrainian drone attack on one of its vessels has forced Russian logistics and shipping group FESCO to suspend accepting new shipment orders via the Black Sea, the company said on Tuesday.The announcement highlights the growing disruption to shipping from a sharp escalation of attacks on each other's vessels by both Russia and Ukraine, which has pushed wheat prices higher on global markets.Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom, which owns 92.5% of FESCO, said earlier that the vessel Yanina, which was transporting goods such as frozen food and construction materials, was damaged

Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures rose on Monday, reversing earlier weakness on fears that intensified fighting between Russia and Ukraine would further disrupt Black Sea exports.Corn and soybean futures turned higher, though prices remained under pressure as crude oil tumbled on prospects for a deal between the U.S. and Iran, along with a spate of recent rainfall across parts of the U.S. Midwest.Corn futures ticked higher on support from the wheat market, where a technical bounce was also bolstered by a spate of weather worries…

Freight rates for Russia's flagship Urals crude shipments from western ports to India have jumped by about 50% since mid-July as rising global shipping costs and security risks in the Black Sea deter shipowners from calling at Russian ports, traders said.Russia is set to increase oil exports from its western ports in August amid firm demand in Asia, but a shortage of tonnage may put a cap on its plans, they added.Ukraine stepped up attacks on tankers in the Black Sea in July, damaging several vessels and forcing the suspension of loadings at Novorossiysk and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium ter

Russia's main grain lobby group warned on Friday that Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian ships and ports could shut down grain exports via the Black Sea in the near future, pushing up prices and causing hunger in Africa and the Middle East.Russia, the world's largest wheat exporter, and Ukraine, also a major agricultural exporter, have been attacking each other's agricultural export facilities and commercial vessels in the Black Sea area in recent weeks.Russia's Union of Grain…

Russian forces have struck two vessels carrying weapons and military equipment to Ukrainian ports near Odesa, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.Reuters could not independently verify the report.The ministry later said Russian forces had also hit a fuel storage facility in Odesa, two additional vessels in the port of Pivdennyi near Odesa, and another vessel northwest of Zmiinyi (Snake) Island in the Black Sea.It said, without providing evidence, that all the vessels were being used to transport military supplies to Ukraine.Russia and Ukraine have both stepped up attacks in recent w

An international general cargo vessel sank off the coast of Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa on Sunday, a week after Ukrainian officials said it had been struck by Russian forces.Ukraine's ports authority said the Golden Leo, sailing under a Guinea-Bissau flag, had sunk near the port.

Drones have attacked another two oil tankers approaching the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's terminal on Russia's shores of the Black Sea, further clouding prospects for oil exports from Kazakhstan, which uses the outlet, three industry sources said on Thursday.The closure of the terminal, which accounts for more than 80% of Kazakhstan's oil exports, earlier this week over safety concerns forced the country to cut its oil production, authorities said.The sources said the HERA and ALATAU tankers should have received oil from the CPC.

India said it had summoned a senior Russian diplomat on Tuesday and expressed "grave concerns" after a missile strike killed four Indians on a Black Sea cargo ship that was leaving a Ukrainian port.Ukraine said Russia hit the Golden Leo – a Guinea-Bissau-flagged ship manned by a crew from India and Syria – with three cruise missiles on Sunday, killing 10 people, including four Indians.Vladimir Ladanov, Russian chargé d’affaires, was summoned to India's Ministry of External Affairs…

Russian wheat export prices surged last week amid difficult shipping conditions in the Black Sea and a new wave of attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, analysts said on Monday.Forecasts for July wheat shipments from Russia continued to fall, even as domestic wheat prices declined sharply across all regions this week, they added, noting that weak demand at the Azov Sea and Volga terminals was impacting domestic prices.Shipping from Russia’s shallow-water ports on the Black Sea has remained restricted “for safety reasons” since July 10 amid drone strikes in the wider area…

A Russian missile strike on a ship carrying corn near Ukraine's southern port of Odesa killed 10 people, Ukrainian officials said on Monday, in the deadliest attack in a weeks-long flare-up of violence in the Black Sea.Russia hit the Golden Leo – a Guinea-Bissau-flagged ship manned by a crew from India and Syria – with three cruise missiles, causing a fire on Sunday, Ukraine's navy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.A Reuters witness in Odesa saw smoke billowing from a vessel off the coast on Sunday…

Ukraine will do everything possible to protect its seaports and guarantee grain exports at no less than last season's level,its deputy economy minister, Taras Vysotskiy, told Reuters on Wednesday.Russia has sharply stepped up attacks in recent weeks on Ukrainian Black Sea ports' infrastructure and on cargo vessels entering Odesa ports to export grain and other agricultural goods.Brokers say shipowners are refusing to enter Ukrainian ports because of sharply increased war risks…

Ukraine struck 13 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov on Friday, including 10 tankers, its drone forces commander said, part of Kyiv's major campaign aimed at enforcing a fuel crisis on Moscow's troops.A dry cargo ship and a ferry were among the targets as well, Robert Brovdi said on the Telegram app. Kyiv's troops also struck five power substations in Russia-occupied Crimea overnight, he added.(Reuters)

Russia introduced a ban on diesel exports on Wednesday as part of a raft of measures to support the domestic fuel market after systematic Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries triggered shortages and price spikes in some regions.Drivers in many regions are facing hours-long lines to refuel, as intensifying Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure squeeze supplies of diesel and gasoline.Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told a televised government meeting that the fuel situation remained complex and that "it is clear that the current situation at filling stations is causing co

Chevron-chartered oil tanker Yasa Polaris, used for Caspian Pipeline Consortium shipments, was hit by a drone off Russia's Black Sea coast, the vessel's managing company said on Wednesday, as Kyiv steps up attacks on Russian energy targets.Ukrainian drones have attacked a dozen tankers from Russia's "shadow fleet" that were delivering fuel to Russian-annexed Crimea in recent days, according to the Ukrainian military.There was no official comment from Ukrainian authorities about the incident involving the Chevron-chartered tanker.Yasa Tanker…

Ukrainian drones have attacked a dozen tankers from Russia's "shadow fleet" over the past two days that were delivering fuel to Crimea, Kyiv's military said on Tuesday, as it intensifies efforts to isolate the Russian-occupied peninsula.Ukraine's drone forces said they had struck eight vessels subject to sanctions in the Sea of Azov, each with a deadweight of around 7,000 metric tons. Two more tankers were hit later in the day, they added.The strikes followed attacks on two other shadow-fleet vessels in the same area a day earlier, according to the drone forces.

Ukrainian drones struck Russia's Omsk refinery, the country's largest and located deep in Siberia, in what would be one of the longest-ranged Ukrainian strikes since the beginning of the war, Kyiv's military said on Monday, with local Russian authorities also confirming a strike.In a statement, Ukraine's General Staff said that the strike had caused a fire at the Omsk refinery, which is located around 2,700 km (1,700 miles) from Ukrainian-held territory and close to Russia's border with Kazakhstan.Vitaly Khotsenko…

A newly Russian-flagged LNG tanker - Arctic Express - has picked up a cargo of liquefied natural gas from a floating storage facility used to trans-ship gas from the Arctic LNG 2 project, which is under U.S. sanctions, LSEG data showed.Arctic LNG 2, initially planned to be one of Russia's largest LNG plants with an eventual output of 19.8 million metric tons per year, continues operations despite U.S. sanctions, with China the main buyer.According to LSEG data, Arctic Express loaded an LNG cargo at the Saam facility near the Arctic port of Murmansk on June 28 and headed west.

British commandos boarded and intercepted a sanctioned Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in the Channel on Sunday, leading for the first time an operation to disrupt the oil revenue that helps fund Russia's war in Ukraine.The vessel Smyrtos, sailing under a Cameroonian flag, was boarded by Royal Marine Commandos and National Crime Agency (NCA) officials in the early hours on Sunday, with support from Chinook helicopters and other aircraft, a frigate and a minehunter."This successful…

EU-based companies will be prohibited from selling Russian liquefied natural gas next year, even if buyers are located outside the EU, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Thursday."The ban prohibits companies to trade/market Russian LNG to third countries as it is not relevant whether the Russian LNG is destined for the EU or not," said the letter dated June 1 from the office of EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen, addressed to Poten and Partners, a shipping brokerage and…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the sale of a 10% stake in the sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project held by France's TotalEnergies to a company called Nordline LLC, according to a decree published on Wednesday.TotalEnergies declined to comment and has not issued any statement on a sale, unlike previous divestments from Russia.Reuters has identified two Russian-registered entities named Nordline LLC, both linked to private Russian LNG producer Novatek, the majority owner of Arctic LNG 2…

A maritime drone self-detonated on Friday in Romania's Black Sea port of Constanta near an oil terminal, without causing casualties, as Ukraine accused Russia of jamming one of its vessels before it drifted into Romanian waters.The explosion was the second major incident in a populated area in Romania on NATO's eastern flank in just a week as the spillover threat increases from the war in Ukraine, which has been fighting against a full-scale Russian invasion since 2022.Ukraine's navy said one of its naval drones lost control while on a mission in the Black Sea…

Russia's navy has conducted military drills in the Baltic Sea, practising unguided missile launches, bombing runs and missile strikes, it said, as major U.S.-NATO exercises also took place in the region, the Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday.The NATO BALTOPS naval exercise, which began on June 4 and runs until June 20, are the biggest war games in the Baltic Sea this year, bringing together some 20 vessels from 15 nations with around 6,000 personnel.Russia carried out its own drills from June 8–9 in and near its Kaliningrad exclave…