THIS is the thrilling moment Ukrainian sea drones blow up yet another of Russia’s shadow fleet vessels.
The Dashan tanker was left floundering and on fire after being ambushed in the Black Sea on its way to the Russian port of Novorossiysk.
Stunning POV footage released by Ukraine’s secret service (SBU) shows Ukraine‘s Sea Baby naval drones bouncing across the water with the huge tanker in their sights.
One of the kamikaze drones can be seen storming right up to the so-called “ghost ship” and aiming for the red hull.
Another clip shows a huge fireball exploding from the tanker’s hull where a Sea Baby smashed into it.
A later clip shows huge plumes of black smoke enveloping the tanker – which was hit by at least two explosive drones.
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Sea Babies are kamikaze – meaning they detonate upon impact with their target.
Dashan was sailing under the flag of the Comoros, according to the SBU.
It was moving at “full speed with its transponder switched off”, the service reported.
Sea Babies swarmed the boat whilst it was in Ukraine’s patch of the Black Sea and inflicted critical damage.
The vessel was said to have been “disabled” – though there’s no word on possible casualties.
SBU claimed the tanker was worth around £22.5million and could have been transporting £55million worth of oil.
Dashan had previously been sanctioned by the EU, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Switzerland.
An SBU source said: “The SBU continues active measures to reduce the flow of oil dollars into the Russian budget.
Over the last two weeks, this is already the third disabled tanker from the ‘shadow fleet’ that was helping the Kremlin circumvent international sanctions.”
On November 29, Sea Baby drones struck two sanctioned oil tankers — Kairo and Virat — in the Black Sea.
Russia‘s “shadow fleet” is a group of ships which operate under the radar, allowing Moscow to continue trading the oil which props up its war machine.
It cannot trade in the normal way, because it is under heavy Western sanctions.
Russia is yet to comment on the strike against Dashan.
But Putin last week threatened to sever Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea in response to the attacks on tankers, which he slammed as piracy.
Ukraine has been attacking Russian oil refineries for months, using long-range aerial drones to strike far behind the front lines of Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
The strikes on the tankers represent a new line of attack.
There have been at least seven blasts on other tankers that called at Russian ports since December 2024 at locations including in the Mediterranean.
Ukraine is suspected of carrying out those attacks using limpet mines, maritime security sources said, but Kyiv has not confirmed or denied any role.