ASTRA had at its disposal photos of the aftermath of a drone attack on an oil tanker in the port of Rostov-on-Don, which killed two crew members and injured three others.
According to the OSINT analysis by ASTRA, the attacked vessel was located next to the terminal for transshipment of petroleum products of Novoshakhtinsky ZNP. Three days ago, on December 15, AFU attacked the same area — then a fire broke out about 850 meters from the tanker damaged that night.
According to eyewitnesses, after the attack, the tanker began to go under water — the stern of the vessel was flooded up to about the superstructure. The impact site was cordoned off, and the tanker itself was promptly fenced off with booms.
Earlier, ASTRA sources in the emergency services of the region reported that the tanker Valery Gorchakov came under attack. The MarineTraffic service data confirms that the vessel was at the terminal for transshipment of petroleum products.
As a result, the tanker’s wheelhouse and hull were damaged, holes formed in the engine and tiller compartments, and a fire broke out. Cook Valentina Susanina and mechanic Ivan Kuznetsov were killed. Alexey Medvedev, the senior assistant to the captain, and sailors Daniil Anisimov and Yuri Spichenkov were wounded.
The cargo ship Valery Gorchakov was built in 1969. In 2004, it was converted into an oil tanker for the transportation of petroleum products of all classes.
The tanker is under US, EU, UK, Canadian and Swiss sanctions. According to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the cargo ship also called at ports in the occupied territories.
