What happened

The tanker Elbus, sailing in ballast toward Russia's Novorossiysk terminal, was struck by a naval drone roughly 30 nautical miles off Turkey's Kastamonu coast, damaging its upper section; no crew were injured and no pollution was reported. The vessel diverted to the Turkish port of Inebolu. Responsibility was not explicitly claimed in the cited reporting, though it followed a pattern of Ukrainian shadow-fleet strikes since November 2025.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.