 "Turkey warns of escalation after third straight attack on commercial tanker in Black Sea")
Turkey’s maritime affairs directorate said on Tuesday that another commercial tanker had come under attack in the Black Sea while sailing towards Georgia.
The incident, which did not result in any injuries, is the third such reported attack in recent days, raising severe concerns in Ankara about the widening threat the Russia-Ukraine conflict poses to international navigation.
The vessel involved in the latest incident was the Midvolga 2, a tanker filled with sunflower oil and travelling from Russia. The attack occurred approximately 80 nautical miles off the Turkish coast in the central Black Sea region.
According to a post by the Turkish directorate on X, all 13 crew members on board were safe, and the ship did not require assistance, continuing its journey towards the Turkish port of Sinop.
This new attack follows two earlier, similar incidents on Friday, where commercial vessels were hit by explosions off the Turkish coast. For those prior strikes, a Ukrainian security source claimed responsibility, telling news outlets that drones had successfully targeted vessels that were “covertly transporting Russian oil.”
The string of incidents has drawn sharp criticism from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On Monday, following the first two strikes, he denounced the attacks as a “worrying escalation.” Erdogan said that Turkey “cannot under any circumstances accept these attacks, which threaten the safety of navigation, the environment and lives in our exclusive economic zone,” adding that the ongoing war has clearly reached a stage where it now “threatens the safety of navigation in the Black Sea.”
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The recent Ukrainian naval drone attacks on tankers sailing to Russian ports have caused a sharp surge in war risk insurance premiums for commercial shipping across the Black Sea, as reported by Reuters.
Industry sources confirm the cost of cover, which is calculated as a percentage of a vessel’s value for a standard seven-day voyage, has upped significantly as underwriters reassess the escalating risk profile.
For vessels calling at Ukrainian ports, war risk rates have increased to approximately 0.5% of the ship’s value, rising from around 0.4% previously. For Russian Black Sea ports (like Novorossiysk), which traditionally face higher premiums, rates have been quoted between 0.65% and 0.8%, up from about 0.6%.
Insurers say Kyiv’s decision to hit non-military ships looks like a clear, sustained push to squeeze Russia’s oil money.
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