Black Sea

Local governor Alexander Drozdenko said on the Telegram messaging app that 56 Ukrainian drones have been shot down in recent attacks in the region.

There were casualties among the nine crew members who are nationals of Egypt, Turkey and India, it said, adding that everyone was rescued.

Moscow and Kyiv have frequently attacked each other's ports and tankers since the start of the war. Neither country immediately claimed responsibility for the newly reported attack.

One of the pilots described the matter to the Times as a rare incident that he hadn’t experienced “in a long time.” 

UK defense officials said Russian Su-35 and Su-27 fighter jets flew within six meters of British reconnaissance aircraft, triggering emergency systems in the most serious encounter in years.

The Ukrainian official did not say how the drones reached the ship, but said the operation involved "multi-stage" measures.

"The most radical solution is to cut Ukraine off from the sea, then piracy will be impossible in principle," Putin said in televised remarks.

The strikes killed a Russian anti-tank crew and destroyed reconnaissance and surveillance equipment at the Syvash drilling rig in the Black Sea.

US and Russia hold talks in Saudi Arabia on a Black Sea ceasefire and broader Ukraine peace efforts as scepticism remains over Putin’s willingness to compromise.

The ecological catastrophe began December 15, when two Russian oil tankers, the Volgoneft-212 and the Volgoneft-239, sank during a storm in the Kerch Strait.