The Russian Investigative Committee released a video on Monday showing the wreckage of a liquefied natural gas tanker that it said was struck by Ukrainian drones in the Mediterranean Sea.
According to investigators, the Russian-flagged vessel Arctic Metagaz was targeted by aerial and seaborne drones on March 3 between the coasts of Malta and Libya. The ship suffered “significant damage” and caught fire, while its control systems and two LNG storage tanks were destroyed. Two crew members were injured.
The Investigative Committee is treating the incident as an act of terrorism, spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko has said.
The ship, which was sailing from the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk to China, had been sanctioned by the EU.
Although Kiev has not commented on the alleged attack on the Arctic Metagaz, Ukrainian security officials have previously claimed responsibility for similar strikes on Russia-linked tankers in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Last year, the Security Service of Ukraine told the Kyiv Post that its naval drones had struck two oil tankers off the Turkish coast.
Russia has denied operating a so-called “shadow fleet” to evade Western sanctions and condemned the attacks on ships as a further escalation of the conflict.