Virat tanker among two Russian ‘shadow fleet’ vessels set ablaze off Turkey’s Black Sea coast | World News

Two oil tankers said to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” that were set ablaze off Turkey’s Black Sea coast may have been hit mines, drones or missiles, a senior Turkish official said on Saturday.Tankers Kairos and Virat were struck in quick succession late Friday afternoon, prompting rescue operations. Crew members on board both vessels were reported to be safe.

The captain of the tanker Virat issued a MAYDAY after what he said was a drone attack on the vessel~35 nautical miles off Turkey — all 20 crew are reportedly safeTurkish authorities say the tanker was ‘struck’ https://t.co/TvL0ycmlzB pic.twitter.com/rBu6tOKHSX— RT (@RT_com) November 28, 2025

Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Miner Abdulkadir Uraloglu said rescue services first received reports that the Kairos may have hit a mine before being told of an explosion on the Virat.

“Our crews indicate that there were explosions on the other ship and that these were also caused external interference,” Uraloglu told broadcaster NTV early Saturday.

“The first things that come to mind for external interference could be a mine, a missile, a marine vessel or a drone. We don’t have definitive information on this,” he added.

The OpenSanctions database, which tracks people or organisations involved in sanctions evasion, describes the vessels as part of a shadow fleet of ships used to evade sanctions imposed on Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine has carried out successful naval strikes against Russian shipping during the war, particularly using explosives-packed marine drones. However, Ukrainian missions have largely been limited to the waters of the northern Black Sea.

The Gambian-flagged Kairos caught fire in the Black Sea approximately 28 nautical miles (52 kilometres) off the coast of Turkey’s Kocaeli province, Turkey’s Directorate General of Maritime Affairs said. It was sailing empty toward Russia’s Novorossiysk port.

Within an hour, the maritime authority reported that a second tanker, Virat, was “struck” while sailing in the Black Sea about 35 nautical miles (64 kilometres) off the Turkish coast. It did not provide further details.

Rescue teams were dispatched to the scene to provide assance. All 20 crew members aboard the Virat were safe, although heavy smoke was reported in the engine room, the maritime authority said.

All 25 crew aboard the Kairos were safely evacuated, Kocaeli Gov. Ilhami Aktas said.

The VesselFinder website showed the Virat was anchored north of the Bosphorus, not far from its current position, on Nov. 4. The Kairos’ last position was on Nov. 26 south of the Dardanelles Strait connecting the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara.

The United States sanctioned the Virat in January this year, followed the European Union, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Canada, according to the OpenSanctions website. Similarly, the EU sanctioned Kairos in July this year, followed the UK and Switzerland.

“The shadow tanker fleet continues to provide multibillion-dollar revenues for the Kremlin, passing sanctions, disguising its activities under the flags of third countries, using complex schemes to conceal owners and poses significant environmental threats,” OpenSanctions says on its website entry on the Kairos.

The Virat, built in 2018, uses “irregular and high-risk shipping practices” and has previously sailed under the flags of Barbados, Comoros, Liberia and Panama, OpenSanctions says.

The Kairos, formerly flagged as Panamanian, Greek and Liberian, was built in 2002.

Ukraine’s military intelligence service, the GUR, says on its website that both ships visit Russian ports and have a hory of shutting off their automatic identification systems, which transmit a ship’s position.

They have also docked at ports in China, Turkey and India, among other locations.