Zelensky renewed a call for allies to provide air defense support packages to Ukraine, saying his military only managed to shoot down “some” of the missiles launched by Russia overnight. According to Zelensky, one of the “key targets” of the attack was the country’s energy infrastructure, which Moscow previously said it would step up attacks on following Ukraine’s attacks on Moscow’s energy facilities. In a separate post on Wednesday, Zelensky said Ukraine had hit four targets in retaliatory strikes in the past. 24 hours, including two oil facilities and a training ground in the Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions. “There is also a response in the Black Sea,” wrote the Ukrainian president. On Tuesday afternoon, images emerged showing a huge plume of smoke engulfing an oil tanker off the coast of Sochi, along the Black Sea in southern Russia. The Russian Transport Ministry later said that unmanned ships had attacked the Liberian-flagged Aframax Rio oil tanker. Authorities say the crew was rescued. Separately, Bulgaria has stopped the search for the missing crew of a ship that sank after being hit by a drone on Tuesday, Vice Admiral Rumen Nikolov of the Executive Agency for Maritime Administration said, according to the Bulgarian news agency BTA. Details of the crew are not known, but Nikolov said there were supposed to be Syrians on board. Tracking data shows the ship was anchored at the southern end of the Bosphorus Strait until Monday, when it entered the Black Sea heading north. Its last reported position on ship tracking site MarineTraffic was at 23:43 GMT on Monday in the so-called Bulgarian exclusive economic zone of the Black Sea. Bulgarian media Maritime.bg reported that the Alfa Watan was attacked by a drone and sank 70 nautical miles (130 kilometers) east of Byala. he said Tuesday. All 18 crew members of the second boat were rescued. Bulgaria has not said who it believes was behind the attacks. It comes as Russia steps up attacks in the Black Sea, particularly on the eastern side, as part of its war against Ukraine. In an afternoon speech on Tuesday, Zelensky claimed that Russia was responsible for the attacks. Moscow has not commented on the latest incident. Additional BBC Verify information
