Russia accused Ukraine of using naval drones to attack and sink a Russian liquefied natural gas carrier off Libya, an incident that, if confirmed, would mark the first known strike by Kyiv on a Russian LNG vessel.
Libya’s port authority said the Arctic Metagaz tanker suffered “sudden explosions followed by a massive fire,” leading to its complete sinking overnight. The vessel went down roughly 130 nautical miles north of Sirte, within Libya’s search-and-rescue zone, the authority said.
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Russia’s Transport Ministry said the attack was launched “from the Libyan coast by Ukrainian naval drones” and condemned the incident as “an act of international terrorism and maritime piracy.” The ministry said the ship was loaded and sailing from Murmansk, in northern Russia, with Libya’s National Oil Corporation later noting the tanker was bound for Port Said, Egypt. The NOC said it had no involvement with the vessel and that traffic at Libyan ports was operating normally, with no impact on domestic fuel supplies.
All 30 crew members, all Russian nationals, were rescued, according to Maltese and Russian authorities. Ukraine’s Security Service did not respond to a request for comment.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian oil refineries and other energy infrastructure during the war, arguing that striking such assets restricts Moscow’s funding and logistics. A successful attack on a Russian LNG carrier would add a new maritime vulnerability to a conflict that has already stretched from land to the Black Sea and beyond.
The reported sinking near Libya also underscores the conflict’s widening effects on global energy shipping lanes and market sentiment. While the claims could not be independently verified, the location—between Libya and Malta along key Mediterranean routes—highlights the risks of spillover in a region where commercial traffic is heavy and security patchy.
Separately, a Russian drone struck an empty passenger train in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region early Tuesday, injuring a railway worker, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said. He added there was an attempted drone attack late Monday on a train operating between Dnipro and Kovel in the northwest, but railway workers intervened and the drone detonated a few meters from the locomotive.
Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine’s national rail operator, said Russia has intensified strikes on railway infrastructure, with rolling stock among the main targets. The company reported 18 drone strikes since the start of March, damaging 41 facilities. Locomotives, freight cars and specialized repair equipment have been hit, and depots and bridges have also come under attack this month. A drone strike on a commuter train in Dnipropetrovsk region on Monday killed one person and wounded seven, Ukrzaliznytsia said.
In Moscow, the Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin will meet Hungary’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, for talks on Russian oil supplies. Hungary has maintained ties with Moscow despite the four-year-old war and remains heavily reliant on Russian energy. Szijjarto wrote on Facebook that he was seeking guarantees Russia would continue to deliver oil and gas “at unchanged prices,” citing “changed circumstances and the global energy crisis.”
Putin spoke Monday with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban about Hungarian citizens captured by Russia while fighting for Ukraine, as well as the Middle East war’s impact on energy markets, the Kremlin said.
Budapest is in a standoff with Kyiv over a halt to some oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities say Russia attacked the pipeline and that repairs are delayed due to the risk of renewed strikes. Hungary and Slovakia, which also depend on Druzhba shipments, accuse Ukraine of stalling repairs to cut them off from Russian crude. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Ukraine of “deliberate blocking” and said buyers of Russian oil were “facing blackmail.”
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
