Russia News

Ukrainian attacks on Russian naval vessels have caused significant but not critical damage, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.He said Ukraine had damaged around 100 vessels over a 40-day period, with the resulting damage equivalent to 1% of gross domestic product (GDP).(Reuters - Reporting by Maxim Rodionov in London, Dmitry Antonov and Ksenia Orlova in Moscow; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Russia hammered Ukrainian ports, industrial sites and retailers' distribution facilities with missiles and drones in an hours-long attack on Kyiv and other cities that was partly repelled, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday.Commuters went to work in the capital to the boom of air defences firing at waves of drones after an overnight barrage that Ukraine's military said included an unspecified number of ballistic missiles and 258 drones."Overnight, Russia carried out a massive strike against Ukraine…

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that its forces had struck three cargo vessels carrying supplies for the Ukrainian military and a tanker at the Black Sea port of Pivdennyi.The ministry also said it had hit another cargo vessel in the nearby port of Odesa, as well as port infrastructure in Pivdennyi and Odesa and fuel storage facilities at the port of Chornomorsk.Reuters could not independently verify the ministry's claims.(Reporting by Reuters)

Freight rates for tanker shipments of Russia's flagship Urals crude from western ports to India, the grade's main market, have surged in August as strong demand for vessels and mounting security risks linked to carrying Russian oil drove up costs, three trade sources said.The rise in shipping costs is squeezing revenues of Russian oil exporters already grappling with Western sanctions and a difficult geopolitical environment.Freight markets have also been supported by disruption to global shipping routes stemming from conflict in the Middle East.

Russian Urals crude delivered to India has flipped to a premium against the dated Brent benchmark for the first time since May as stronger Asian demand coincides with tighter export availability, three trading sources said.Cargoes of Urals crude for October delivery were offered this week at premiums up to $1 a barrel to dated Brent, compared with discounts of $1 to $2 a barrel for September-arrival cargoes, the sources said.The rebound reflects a combination of rising buying…

A container ship will depart from South Korea bound for Europe via the Arctic on Saturday, testing whether a route opened by melting sea ice can be commercially viable, but risking friction with Western allies, as the voyage requires Russian cooperation.If successful, the trip would be South Korea's first such commercial voyage to Europe via the Arctic, placing it with China and Russia among the few countries whose shipping firms have tested or run cargo services along the route.Sailing north from the port of Busan, the PanStar Acro will make stops at Felixstowe in Britain, Rotterdam in the Ne

Firefighters were battling flames on Friday at Russia's Baltic Sea port Ust-Luga, a major energy exports hub, after a fire sparked by a drone attack, regional governor Aleksander Drozdenko said on messaging app Telegram.More than fifty drones were downed in the Leningrad region, he added, as the region around Ust-Luga, a centre for exports of oil and oil products, kept up efforts to repel the attack.The scale of damage was not immediately clear in the attack, which continues Ukraine's tactics of hitting Russian oil processing and export facilities and grain shipping routes, in an effort to den

Ukraine has sent Russia an offer suggesting they both halt attacks on civilian targets in the Black Sea, a source said, after mounting strikes on vessels and ports there raised fears over global food supplies.The offer to suspend attacks was transmitted by Kyiv via a third party, and Ukraine was still waiting for a response, the source who is familiar with the matter told Reuters.Both Russia and Ukraine, major players in the world agriculture market, have accused each other of…

A major Ukrainian attack on Russia's Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk hit warships at a naval base and forced two major grain terminals to halt operations on Wednesday, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials as well as grain industry sources.The Ukrainian attacks killed at least two people, including an 8-year-old child, regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said.Describing the attack as having "strategic significance", Ukraine's SBU security service said Kyiv's forces hit the Novorossiysk naval base with drones and missiles.

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia will respond in kind if European countries start to seize Russian merchant vessels and the commander of Russia's Pacific Fleet said his forces were ready to "inspect and detain" foreign vessels from what he called hostile states.The comments, which Putin made as he oversaw navy drills in Russia's far east, come as the EU tries to ratchet up pressure on Russia's so-called shadow fleet, expanding sanctions against hundreds of vessels and detaining some ships and their crews for checks.

Russia has begun shipping crude oil via its Arctic sea route this year at a faster pace than a year ago, with seven cargoes carrying some 6 million barrels of crude already heading to Asia, according to three trade sources and LSEG shipping data.The Northern Sea Route, which links Russia's western ports with Asian markets through Arctic waters, is typically open from July 1 until October 1 each year.Russia is speeding up usage of the route as it enables its cargoes to reach China and other parts of Asia without transiting waters where tankers face inspections…

An oil slick is covering an area of around 390 square kilometres (150 square miles) off the coast of Oman, the country's government said on Monday, after a vessel under sanctions and carrying Russian crude sustained damage.The Caroline Bezengi's crew first reported difficulties on June 8 off the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla, two maritime security sources said, adding that initial assessments indicated that a blast occurred onboard.In its first public disclosure of details of the environmental impact…

Ships are passing smoothly through the Turkish straits to the Black Sea despite heightened concerns about safety, two Turkish government officials told Reuters on Sunday.On Saturday, Bloomberg News reported that Ankara had restricted commercial ship traffic entering the Black Sea following attacks on vessels there, including Turkish-owned ships.Turkey has issued repeated warnings to Moscow and Kyiv over the attacks in the Black Sea, urging the warring sides to take measures to ensure navigational safety in the area.On Saturday…

Russia's state nuclear giant Rosatom, operator of the Northern Sea Route via the Arctic, said on Friday it had issued permits for seven Chinese transit vessels to sail to Europe via the NSR.Chinese container company Sea Legend Shipping plans to launch the first regular container service to Europe via the NSR, Alexei Likhachev, Rosatom's head, said."Unlike previous container shipments via the Northern Sea Route, which were largely experimental or one-off in nature, the 2026 programme provides for a fully-fledged regular service with vessels sailing every week throughout the navigation season."

"During the last two weeks of July, dirty tanker loadings from Russian Black Sea and Sea of Azov ports fell 62% compared to the previous four weeks’ average. Exports averaged 0.98 million barrels per day (mbpd) compared to 2.59 mbpd in the previous four weeks,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.On July 6, 2026, Ukraine launched Operation MoLoChKa, a large-scale maritime drone campaign initially focused on Russia-linked shipping in the Sea of Azov. According to Ukraine…

Last week's Ukrainian drone attack on one of its vessels has forced Russian logistics and shipping group FESCO to suspend accepting new shipment orders via the Black Sea, the company said on Tuesday.The announcement highlights the growing disruption to shipping from a sharp escalation of attacks on each other's vessels by both Russia and Ukraine, which has pushed wheat prices higher on global markets.Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom, which owns 92.5% of FESCO, said earlier that the vessel Yanina, which was transporting goods such as frozen food and construction materials, was damaged

Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures rose on Monday, reversing earlier weakness on fears that intensified fighting between Russia and Ukraine would further disrupt Black Sea exports.Corn and soybean futures turned higher, though prices remained under pressure as crude oil tumbled on prospects for a deal between the U.S. and Iran, along with a spate of recent rainfall across parts of the U.S. Midwest.Corn futures ticked higher on support from the wheat market, where a technical bounce was also bolstered by a spate of weather worries…

Freight rates for Russia's flagship Urals crude shipments from western ports to India have jumped by about 50% since mid-July as rising global shipping costs and security risks in the Black Sea deter shipowners from calling at Russian ports, traders said.Russia is set to increase oil exports from its western ports in August amid firm demand in Asia, but a shortage of tonnage may put a cap on its plans, they added.Ukraine stepped up attacks on tankers in the Black Sea in July, damaging several vessels and forcing the suspension of loadings at Novorossiysk and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium ter

Russian forces have struck two vessels carrying weapons and military equipment to Ukrainian ports near Odesa, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.Reuters could not independently verify the report.The ministry later said Russian forces had also hit a fuel storage facility in Odesa, two additional vessels in the port of Pivdennyi near Odesa, and another vessel northwest of Zmiinyi (Snake) Island in the Black Sea.It said, without providing evidence, that all the vessels were being used to transport military supplies to Ukraine.Russia and Ukraine have both stepped up attacks in recent w

Russia's main grain lobby group warned on Friday that Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian ships and ports could shut down grain exports via the Black Sea in the near future, pushing up prices and causing hunger in Africa and the Middle East.Russia, the world's largest wheat exporter, and Ukraine, also a major agricultural exporter, have been attacking each other's agricultural export facilities and commercial vessels in the Black Sea area in recent weeks.Russia's Union of Grain…

India said it had summoned a senior Russian diplomat on Tuesday and expressed "grave concerns" after a missile strike killed four Indians on a Black Sea cargo ship that was leaving a Ukrainian port.Ukraine said Russia hit the Golden Leo – a Guinea-Bissau-flagged ship manned by a crew from India and Syria – with three cruise missiles on Sunday, killing 10 people, including four Indians.Vladimir Ladanov, Russian chargé d’affaires, was summoned to India's Ministry of External Affairs…

Drones have attacked another two oil tankers approaching the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's terminal on Russia's shores of the Black Sea, further clouding prospects for oil exports from Kazakhstan, which uses the outlet, three industry sources said on Thursday.The closure of the terminal, which accounts for more than 80% of Kazakhstan's oil exports, earlier this week over safety concerns forced the country to cut its oil production, authorities said.The sources said the HERA and ALATAU tankers should have received oil from the CPC.

An international general cargo vessel sank off the coast of Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa on Sunday, a week after Ukrainian officials said it had been struck by Russian forces.Ukraine's ports authority said the Golden Leo, sailing under a Guinea-Bissau flag, had sunk near the port.