Brutal Ukrainian drone attacks on two Russian “shadow fleet” oil tankers in the Black Sea have been condemned by Turkey. Kyiv said it used naval Sea Baby drones to smash the tankers in quick succession off Turkey’s Black Sea coast late on Friday afternoon. Crew members on board both vessels were reported to be safe.

Video posted on social media by Ukraine‘s security service appears to show one of the drones hurtling towards a ship before cutting away to footage showing a huge explosion and fireball towards the stern of one vessel. The OpenSanctions database, which tracks people or organisations involved in sanctions evasion, describes the vessels as part of a fleet of ships used to evade sanctions imposed on Russia after its full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Öncü Keçeli, said the attacks on the Kairos and Virat vessels happened inside the country’s exclusive economic zone and “posed serious risks to navigation, life, property and environmental safety in the region”.

Mr Keçeli added Turkey is carrying out talks with “the relevant parties” to prevent the war in Ukraine spreading across the Black Sea and to protect Turkey’s economic interests.

Experts at the Carnegie Endowment describe Turkey as “the gatekeeper” of the Black Sea. Ankara’s naval capacities mean it can protect Ukrainian shipping, but it also respects Russia’s rights in the same sea.

Turkey has also anchored itself as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently discussed a US proposal to end the war in Ukraine with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Mr Erdogan told Putin Turkey was ready to support the peace process and suggested Istanbul as a location for talks.

An official from Ukraine’s SBU security service, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the two tankers targeted on Friday were sanctioned by the West. They added that Ukrainian intelligence continued “to take active steps to curtail Russia’s financial capabilities to wage war against Ukraine”.

The official said Sea Baby naval drones had disabled vessels capable of transporting oil worth almost £52.8million ($70m), hampering Russian efforts to get around international sanctions.

Turkey’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said the Gambian-flagged Kairos had caught fire but all 25 crew members had been safely evacuated. He added the Virat was not ablaze and no evacuation request was made.

The United States sanctioned the Virat in January this year, followed by the UK, European Union, Switzerland and Canada, according to the OpenSanctions website. Similarly, the EU sanctioned the Kairos in July this year, followed by the UK and Switzerland.

Russia’s shadow fleet is a clandestine network of vessels operated by the Russians to evade the policing of oil sanctions. Ukraine has carried out a number of successful naval strikes against Russian shipping during the war, particularly using explosives-packed marine drones. However, Ukrainian missions have largely been confined to the waters of the northern Black Sea.