Russia Confirms It Has Attacked Over 80 Vessels In The Black Sea In July Alone

We've been detailing the escalating 'southern front' war in the Black and Caspian Seas, as Russia and Ukraine take aim at each other's maritime and energy and cargo transit and trade.

Ukraine's Black Sea ports, such as at Odessa, had by and large not been focus of large-scale Russian strikes in the opening years of the war, but it seems this is fast changing.

Also, the cargo going in and out of places like Odessa is increasingly coming under fire, as Ukraine's navy has been in turn targeting Russian vessels in the region, especially in the Sea of Azov.

On Saturday Russia's defense ministry issued some new figures which confirm the greatly expanded scope of its maritime war on Ukrainian shipping.

Russian forces have hit more than 80 vessels believed involved in supplying the Ukrainian military in the month of July alone, state TASS writes based on official defense ministry data.

The report goes on to detail: "Among them were two dry cargo ships, a sea ferry transporting military cargo and a screening boat hit in overnight group strikes on July 12, according to the ministry."

"On the same day, the ministry released footage that showed Geran-4 Seeker drones destroying a seiner converted to launch unmanned boats, a patrol boat, a ferry and a dry cargo ship," the report adds.

"According to the ministry, Russian forces struck 24 seagoing vessels used by the Ukrainian military for supplies during the week of July 11-17, including 14 dry cargo ships and one tanker," TASS continnues.

Moscow seeks to sever military supply routes and disrupt arms shipments bound for Ukraine, but this has also obviously resulted in damaged and sunken tankers, auxiliary vessels, and even deaths of civilian bystanders among international shipping crew.

Russia's military has said that early last week it especially targeted key logistics hubs of Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Port of Mykolaiv (Nikolayev) - with the latter site seeing a docked cargo vessel receiving a direct strike.

Ukraine's small but high-tech drone boats have gotten more advanced and difficult to defend against...

Footage shows the crude oil tanker BOURDA, IMO 9312846, being struck by a Ukrainian naval kamikaze drone while heading to Russia’s port of Taman. pic.twitter.com/t9TOHFfDSW

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) August 1, 2026

All of this comes after local authorities in Odessa had confirmed that a foreign-flagged cargo ship, which some reports have identified as the Guinea-Bissau-flagged Golden Leo, capsized and sank near the coast after taking heavy damage from a Russian attack in late July.