The Ukrainian attack on a Russian oil tanker late Friday “won’t be left without a response,” according to a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry.
“There can be no justification for such barbaric actions; they will not be left without a response; the people who orchestrated it will inevitably be punished,” spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement Saturday.
Zakharova said Kyiv carried out the attack “using new terrorist methods,” and called for Western countries and international organizations to condemn the assault.
The attack, she said, “threatened not only the death of its crew, but also carried the threat of a large-scale environmental disaster.”
(Russia’s Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport has said no casualties were reported and that the ship was not carrying oil when attacked. Ukrainian officials, however, said some crew members were injured and that the tanker was carrying fuel for the Russian military.)
Key context: Friday’s attack targeted one of Russia’s biggest oil tankers with a maritime drone, the latest salvo in an emerging Ukrainian military campaign employing unmanned vehicles to attack far-away Russian targets by air and by sea.
Maritime drones are proving very difficult to defend and can travel hundreds of miles to their target. Ukrainian officials have vowed to carry out more attacks on Black Sea targets.
Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), has said any attacks on Russian ships or the Crimean bridge are “an absolutely logical and effective step” and “completely legal” because they occur in Ukraine’s territorial waters.
Zakharova said Saturday that she doubted the attack was “completely legal” and called Maliuk’s statement “inhumane.” She argued the attack was “aimed at killing unarmed civilians.”
CNN has not been able to independently verify the claims from either side about specifics of the attack, including the fate of the crew and whether its cargo was for military purposes.
Sumber: www.cnn.com
