Tanker war escalates: Shadow fleet under attack

January 14, 2026January 15, 2026

Russian tankers face a new reality. The tanker war escalates as arrests apply not only to tankers trying to illegally export oil from Venezuela but also to those spotted doing something similar earlier. Reuters news agency writes that US authorities appealed to American courts for warrants to arrest dozens of tankers transporting Venezuelan oil.

So far, no one can say how many such appeals have already been filed and how many were granted. But we’re talking about dozens of warrants that courts have already issued. Moreover, authorities are filing corresponding appeals for confiscation of tankers spotted transporting Venezuelan oil. As of today, only vessels that received permission from US authorities can export oil from Venezuela. All those who violated sanctions in the past must stay away from these waters. And it’s not a fact that, being thousands of miles from Venezuela’s shores, US Navy ships won’t detain them.

Venezuela’s Oil: New Rules, New Game

Meanwhile, the process of exporting Venezuelan oil has launched on new terms. Venezuela’s state energy company PDVSA began canceling oil production cuts imposed due to the harsh US oil embargo. Oil exports are resuming under Washington’s control.

Two supertankers, each with approximately 1.8 million barrels of oil, left Venezuelan territorial waters on Monday. According to rumors, an unspoken agreement exists between the governments of Venezuela and the USA. At the first stage, the States allow the “legal” export of 50 million barrels of oil. As local authorities fulfill their obligations to return assets of American oil companies, all restrictions imposed by the States on Venezuela will be lifted.

It seems the market doesn’t doubt that the States came there seriously and for a long time. Therefore, they will rapidly increase extraction and, accordingly, export. Old Donnie talks a lot about oil. Everyone understands that the next three years of his cadence will see the oil flow from Venezuela fly into space. Moreover, we’re talking here not only about money that American companies will earn but about Trump’s personal ego and his narcissism.

Ukrainian Military: Sanctions Work on the Sea

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces continue sanctions work on russian shadow fleet tankers. As far as one can understand, now begins a phase of putting such vessels out of action. After all, you don’t actually have to sink a tanker. You just need to know where to hit so that loading oil into it becomes impossible and transporting it becomes dangerous.

For this, you don’t need to make a hole in the hull and arrange dramatic scenes with sinking a large vessel. On the contrary, you can deliver pinpoint strikes on some key elements of the tanker — conditional pumps or something else. After this, the tanker goes out of chat for the entire repair period. And because the overwhelming majority of such vessels are very old and bought instead of being sent for scrap, repairs will have a bigger price and longer time.

As it turns out, inflicting such damage doesn’t require using expensive devices like naval drones, cruise missiles, or something prepared for military ships. Aerial drones can handle this task perfectly. Just yesterday, on the approaches to Novorossiysk, four shadow fleet tankers received greetings from good birds at once. Judging by everything, our military decided not to leave without attention any tanker going to Black Sea ports for oil loading. So the process goes from this side too, and goes in the right direction.

Tanker War Escalates: Black Sea to Caspian

The enemy is now in confusion. His understanding of his own capabilities to provide his assets with cover and accordingly guarantee safe functioning is gradually transforming. Everyone there already knows well that military and near-military infrastructure became an object of constant attacks by our good birds. They somehow accepted this new reality. They also accepted it in terms of the fact that the Black Sea water area stopped being a reliable shelter not only for their tankers but also for military ships.

But the Orcs¹ never expected Ukrainian forces to deliver a crushing rout in the waters of the Caspian Sea as well. The Orcs considered the Caspian their fiefdom, where no one could harm them due to big distance. And now, almost every other day, data arrives that something there got attacked, one way or another connected with russian military assets.

For example, about a month ago, two vessels involved in transporting weapons shipments from Iran got attacked there. Then came the turn of oil platforms, which regularly suffer air strikes and gradually lose their functionality. And then a significant event happened. A russian patrol ship got sent to cover the platforms. It was supposed to cover the platforms with its fire. As a result, the ship also got attacked, damaged, and put out of action.

Iran’s Cargo Ship: The Caspian Is No Longer Safe

But until recently, Iranian vessels delivering Shaheds and other weapons to the Swamps² didn’t fall under distribution. Now this has changed, and in the most radical way. Our sources already reported that such a vessel got attacked in the Caspian Sea water area. But now the Orcs themselves recognized this information:

Sources in the Ministry of Defense state: navigation in the Caspian Sea ceases to be safe. On the eve, the Iranian dry cargo ship Rona suffered an accident. 14 crew members were rescued, but the cargo and ship went to the bottom. Rumors go that there could be a very difficult cargo on board, but so far without details… Now sources recognize: the Caspian Sea is becoming dangerous. And an urgent reaction is needed here. Apparently, important cargoes will need to be escorted. Interlocutors point to instability in Iran, which creates additional inconveniences.

Just let’s recall what and how the Orcs wrote in 2022 and even 2023. And now our military moved from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. Now they didn’t just damage but sank a dry cargo vessel with weapons and ammunition. One can assume that the dry cargo suffered fatal damage not from a drone strike but from secondary detonation of cargo. So times have changed. As the tanker war escalates, the enemy suffers losses in such distant corners that he didn’t even suspect.

¹Orcs – a common term for Russians who support or participate in the armed aggression against Ukraine. Dehumanizing? Yes. Accurate? Also yes.

²Swamps – an ironic name for Russia, emphasizing decay, stagnation, and filth. The Commander of the USF, Robert Browdie, and most soldiers use this word.