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Putin threatens strikes on ships supporting Ukraine amid tanker attacks surge
The attacks on Moscow's tanker fleet began piling up last week, with an attack on a fuel tanker off the coast of Senegal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened strikes on ships of countries supporting Ukraine if a surge in attacks on Moscow’s tanker fleet in the past week doesn’t halt. Putin began talks at the Kremlin with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on the latest plans aimed at ending the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Ahead of the Kremlin meeting, Putin reportedly threatened strikes on ships of countries supporting Ukraine, Bloomberg reported."What the Ukrainian armed forces are doing now is piracy,” Putin was quoted as saying in Moscow.
Putin said that Russia's first possible countermeasures would be to expand the range of Russian “strikes against port facilities and ships” calling at Ukrainian ports.
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He also said that the second possibility is that Russia will consider retaliatory measures against “vessels of those countries that assist Ukraine in committing these piracy acts."
“The most radical option is to cut Ukraine off from the sea, then piracy will be impossible in principle,” Putin said.
Putin's meeting in the Kremlin follows negotiations between US and Ukrainian officials in Florida earlier on the proposal aimed at reaching a peace deal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met in Ireland earlier Tuesday with his negotiating team to get a “detailed briefing” on the Florida talks.
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Meanwhile, Ukraine's Zelensky said that he was waiting for the results of the meeting in Moscow. “I am ready to receive all signals, ready to meet with President Trump — everything depends on today’s talks,” Zelensky reportedly told reporters in Dublin.
The attacks on Moscow's tanker fleet began piling up last week, with an attack on a fuel tanker off the coast of Senegal. The manager of that ship said it will cease to trade in Russia. This was followed by 2 large oil tankers coming under attack in the Black Sea.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
