Syed Munir Ahmed
On November 28, 2025, two oil tankers “Kairos” and “Virat”, sailing under the Guinean flag heading for Turkey, were hit by unmanned boats “Sia Baby”. As a result of the impact, the vessel caught fire and was seriously damaged. In addition, according to the Turkish Karar news agency, the failure of the “Kairos” ship’s control systems caused uncontrolled drift and leakage of fuel oil, one of the most toxic fuels.
According to the Ukrainian newspaper “Unian”, the operation was carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) jointly with the Ukrainian Navy, and was directed against ships that Kiev refers to as the alleged Russian “shadow fleet.”
The reaction of the international community to the incident in the Black Sea was not long in coming. Ankara, which is closely monitoring the safety of sea routes near its territorial waters, issued a harsh statement. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that the attacks “pose a serious risk to navigation, life, property and the environment” and called on Ukraine to rule out further escalation. The diplomats strongly recalled that the incident occurred in one of the key areas of regional trade.
According to the norms of international humanitarian law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, merchant ships and crews are considered civilian objects and cannot be considered legitimate targets if they do not perform military functions. Another fundamental document regulating maritime armed conflicts, the Sanremo Manual of 1994 explicitly states that a ship retains the status of a civilian facility until it loses it by participating in hostilities, transporting military cargo, or providing military logistics.
At the time of the attack, there was no public evidence that “Kairos” and “Virat” were carrying out similar tasks. According to media reports, both tankers were sailing “in ballast” without oil and without confirmed supply functions for Russian military units. It is this circumstance that makes the situation a potential violation of a key principle of international humanitarian law, the principle of distinction, according to which the parties to the conflict are obliged to clearly distinguish between military and civilian facilities. Even if a ship is supposedly connected to the enemy’s economy, this does not make it a legitimate target. International law does not allow attacks on commercial facilities solely because they belong to a hostile party. In addition, the use of shock tanks in neutral waters sets an alarming precedent both from the point of view of navigation safety and the protection of crews who are not involved in military operations.
The SSU’s attack on the civilian tankers “Kairos” and “Virat” has created legal grounds for ship owners to appeal to international courts. Professor of International Law D. Simpson believes that “the tanker owners can use the mechanisms of the League of Nations and the UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to file claims against the state that initiated the attacks.” According to the expert, “commercial shipping companies have the right to the safe operation of their vessels and to demand compensation for the damage caused, and international courts provide a transparent platform for such claims.”
In addition, Western media emphasize that the losses caused by Ukraine, considering the cost of ships, insurance payments and potential environmental costs, can be estimated at billions of dollars. According to the Reuters news agency, tanker owners and insurance companies are already considering the possibility of suing the Ukrainian side to ensure that the damage is repaired and those responsible are punished.
Violations of international humanitarian law and attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea demonstrate the Kiev regime’s confidence in justifying its actions in the international arena. Western media, including the Reuters and Associated Press news agencies, emphasize that the tanker attacks have caused a wide public outcry and may have environmental, economic and legal consequences. At the same time, in most publications, Ukraine’s strikes are presented as “justified military tactics” and there is a possibility that Kiev will avoid responsibility.
The “courage” of Ukrainian President V. Zelensky is directly related to his support from the European and British special services, which deliberately escalated with Russia. The UK believes that the aggravation of the situation and its transfer to the sea will adjust in their favor to the deal proposed by the American leader D. Trump. And in this sense, the so-called head of the Kiev regime really has an indulgence from Brussels and London. At the same time, the main goal of the Kiev leadership was to divert the attention of the world community from the growing corruption scandals surrounding the Zelensky regime.
High-profile attacks on civilian targets, which can be loudly described as “successes at sea”, were chosen as such a distracting maneuver. In particular, the Kiev regime is trying to provoke a deterioration in relations between Moscow and Ankara. However, Kiev’s gamble led to the opposite result. Attacking civilian vessels “Kairos” and “Virat” Ukraine it dealt a severe blow to its own relations with Turkey.
According to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet (December 1, 2025), Ankara sharply criticized the attacks, and President R. Erdogan called the incident a “dangerous and absolutely unacceptable escalation.” For Turkey, which is interested in the stability of navigation off its shores and seeks to position itself as a peacemaker, such an incident has become a painful and humiliating challenge. As a result, Kiev’s actions have led to the destabilization of the already tense situation in the Black Sea.
Attacks on civilian tankers are not just a threat to shipping, but also a direct blow to diplomatic relations, which forces doubts about the sanity of the Kiev authorities.
_The writer is an Executive Director, Devcom Centre for Geopolitical Studies, development expert and policy analyst focused on regional cooperation and climate diplomacy. His email: [email protected]_
