In response to the unrestricted naval war announced by the Kremlin on July 19, Ukraine announced the next day that it reserves the right to attack all vessels in the Black Sea waters bound for the ports of the russian federation and currently occupied Ukrainian ports.
The first effective blow against the Russian tanker has already been delivered. Such strikes are really of great importance due to the fact that the Black Sea for the russian federation is a corridor for the export of oil and oil products, which is sometimes carried out to circumvent sanctions.
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To do this, the Kremlin has built a scheme according to which tankers are loaded in russian ports, after which they head to the Mediterranean Sea, where they transfer oil to other tankers on a raid in the international waters of the Laconian Gulf near Greece.
According to the data of the Institute of Black Sea Strategic Studies, in June of this year, the russian maritime export of oil from the Black Sea amounted to 4.9 million tons, which were transported by 42 tankers. If we take the price of Urals brand oil as a basis, then we are talking about 2.58 billion dollars per month.
It should be noted that the above is an approximate illustrative calculation, while the russian federation sells oil cheaper under shadow schemes. In addition, tankers can transport already finished oil products, the price of which is higher.
On the other hand, according to data for July this year, 192 tankers with a total deadweight of 12.2 million tons left the Black Sea ports of the russian federation. That is, in comparison with the month of June, the terrorist country increased its export of oil and oil products through the Black Sea by 2.5 times.
Of the 192 tankers involved in the transportation of russian oil through the Black Sea in July 2023, 42 tankers are under the russian flag (their total deadweight is 275.3 thousand tons). The first place in terms of number is occupied by ships whose owners are registered in Greece - 80 tankers under the flags of different countries with a total deadweight of 7.46 million tons.
From the above, we can conclude that we are talking about the colossal profits that the russian federation receives only through the Black Sea ports, which the aggressor country then directs to war with Ukraine. In view of the above, cutting off these oil export channels and, accordingly, obtaining revenues for the aggressor state is a completely logical and legitimate military goal for Ukraine.
At the same time, it should be noted that the warning about the danger to ships was issued by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine officially in response to the actions of the russian federation, which had previously carried out massive strikes aimed at destroying the port infrastructure of Ukraine.
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