A screenshot released by Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces purportedly shows a drone targeting a tanker during Operation "MoLoChKa," a campaign that Kyiv says has struck 147 Russian-linked vessels in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov between July 6 and July 16, 2026.
Aug 12 (Reuters) – Ukraine has paused drone strikes on oil tankers using Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk after a request from U.S. Vice President JD Vance, the Financial Times said on Wednesday, citing Ukrainian officials.
The paper said last month’s request followed U.S. alarm that Ukraine was destabilizing oil markets and harming U.S. firms by targeting tankers carrying crude piped from Kazakhstan to a Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal at the port.
The Trump administration has warned the Ukrainian government of the need to “cease and desist” from targeting non-Russian vessels in the Black Sea, as well as CPC infrastructure, a U.S. official told Reuters, adding that the U.S. views the CPC as an alternative to Russian energy supplies.
The U.S. has reaffirmed that Ukraine is committed to refraining from targeting CPC infrastructure and non-Russian vessels bound for the CPC offtake point as long as they are not subject to Ukrainian sanctions, the official added.
The U.S. State Department and Vance’s office did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside business hours. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Ukrainian forces recently stepped up strikes on Russian energy infrastructure and other sites in an effort Kyiv says aims at depriving Russia of resources to fund its military.
Black Sea drone attacks took out as much as a fifth of CPC oil loadings in July, four sources familiar with the data told Reuters last week, as the Russia-Ukraine war spilled over to hit sales by Kazakhstan and western oil majors.
Kazakhstan, which relies on the CPC route for crude exports, suffered a drop of 14% in oil production in July versus June, the sources said. Chevron and Exxon Mobil are among the major Western oil companies operating there.
A U.S. official confirmed to the paper that the administration had warned Ukraine to stop attacking non-Russian vessels in the Black Sea.
(Reporting by Anusha Shah and Preetika Parashuraman in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in Barcelona; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Clarence Fernandez and Chizu Nomiyama )
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026.
This article contains reporting from Reuters, published under license.
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