Owner Claims Attack Responsible for Russian Ship Sinking in the Mediterranean

Moscow (Eurotoday) – A Russian cargo ship sank in the Mediterranean after sabotage blasts, with Ukraine increasingly targeting Russian naval assets.

The operator of a Russian cargo ship that sank in the Mediterranean Sea between Algeria and Spain stated that it had been struck by a series of blasts in the doing of sabotage. Oboronlogistica, the Russian state-controlled firm that conducted the Ursa Major freighter, expressed it was devastated by three powerful explosions just beyond the water line in what it defined as a “terrorist attack” that forced it to sink.

As reported by AP News, Oboronlogistica stated in a remark brought by Russia’s state RIA Novosti news agency that the eruptions left a gap in the ship’s starboard and loaded the engine chamber with acrid haze, impeding the crew’s tries to access it. The firm added that the impairment to the engine room made it unattainable to trigger pumps and keep the ship afloat.

Ursa Major’s crew were saved uninjured from a lifeboat and moved to Spain, and two others have remained missing. The firm expressed that the ship, one of Russia’s biggest cargo ships, had flowed from St. Petersburg and was holding two heavy cranes and other supplies to the port of Vladivostok on Russia’s far eastern shore.

Oboronlogistika, a Moscow shipping and logistics business that was founded under Russia’s defence ministry, has been hit by U.S. and European Union sanctions for its connections to Russia’s military. 

How does the incident reflect escalating maritime conflict?

Ukraine has targeted more and more Russian naval assets since the conflict began, and there have been several important attacks reported in the past year. For example, on March 24, 2024, Ukrainian forces attacked two Russian landing ships, the Yamal and the Azov, in Sevastopol, damaging them. This attack was part of a larger strategy to weaken Russia’s naval capabilities in the Black Sea, where Ukraine has used long-range missiles, including Storm Shadow missiles provided by Western allies. 

Moreover, on October 21, 2024, it was reported that about 30% of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet had been lost or disabled due to continuous Ukrainian strikes. It made Russia shift its naval deployments and tactics of operation, testifying to the effectiveness of offensive capacity, although smaller in comparison to that of Ukraine’s navy.