Ukraine drones sink Russian ship, hit three Ufa refineries

Ukrainian forces sank a large Russian container ship in the Black Sea and launched a major coordinated drone attack on oil refineries and radar installations deep inside Russia early Saturday, August 1, 2026, in a significant escalation of Kyiv's campaign to strike targets supporting Moscow's war effort.

President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the sinking of the sanctioned vessel Yanina, which he said had a capacity of more than 100,000 metric tons. He stated the attack was carried out using domestically produced weapons as part of operations in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. Zelensky expressed gratitude to Ukrainian soldiers for "bringing the war back to Russia" and emphasized that Ukrainian targets are consistently defined facilities that sustain the Russian war effort.

Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom, which owns the ship through its subsidiary FESCO, confirmed the vessel sank after being struck by two Ukrainian naval drones. Rosatom chief Alexey Likhachev said the attack occurred in international waters approximately 130 nautical miles from the Russian port of Novorossiysk. All 17 crew members were rescued unharmed. Likhachev described the attack as "piracy,"...