Situation in Black Sea: Ukraine violates International Law I
Dr. Syed Mehboob
Economic and Political Analyst
The Black Sea is a marginal sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkiye and Ukraine. The Black Sea is supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper, and Dniester. Consequently, six countries have a coastline on the sea, its drainage includes parts of twenty-four countries in Europe. It covers 436,400 kilometers and has a maximum depth of 2,212 meters and a volume of 547,000 cubic kilometers.
The Black Sea’s importance lies in its strategic location connecting Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, making it vital for global trade, especially grain, food, energy transit, and military strategy, particularly for Russia and NATO.
Coastlines and Exclusive Economic Zones
Country Coastline Km Exclusively economic Zone area SqrKm
Turkiye 1,329 172,484
Ukraine 2,782 132,414
Russia 800 67,351
Bulgaria 354 35,732
Georgia 310 22,547
Romania 225 219,756
Abkhazia 210 -
Total 5,800 460,084
The United States of America likes, facilitates, and promotes war, violence, and conflicts, and recently it kidnapped the president of Venezuela and is threatening Iran. What role it had played in Gaza is eye-opening.
The USA and Western countries pushed Ukraine to wage war against Russia, and Ukraine is playing a very dangerous game in the Black Sea and jeopardizing marine peace. The Ukrainian Armed Forces' attack on civilian tankers in the Black Sea is a gross violation of international humanitarian and maritime law.
On the evening of November 28, 2025, two oil tankers "Kairos" and "Virat", sailing under the Guinean flag heading for Turkey, were hit by unmanned boats (UB) "Sea baby". According to the Ukrainian newspaper "Unian", the operation was carried out by the SFU forces together with the Ukrainian Navy and was directed against vessels that Kiev considers to be the alleged Russian "shadow fleet". Both tankers suffered critical damage and were effectively decommissioned. The reaction of the international community to the incident in the Black Sea was not long in coming. Ankara, which is closely monitoring the safety of sea routes near its territorial waters, issued a harsh statement. The Turkish Foreign Ministry stressed that the attacks "pose a serious risk to navigation, life, property and the environment" and called on Ukraine to rule out further escalation. The diplomats insisted that the incident occurred in one of the key areas of regional trade.
In turn, the representative of the Joint Command of the NATO Navy, A.Abrahamson, called on Kiev to be "prudent" due to the threat of escalation of tension in the region against the background of attacks by Ukrainian special services on tankers in the Black Sea.
According to international humanitarian law (IHL) and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, merchant ships and crews are considered civilian objects and cannot be considered legitimate targets unless they perform military functions. Another fundamental document regulating maritime armed conflicts, the Sanremo Manual of 1994, explicitly states that a ship retains the status of a civilian facility until it loses it by participating in hostilities, transporting military cargo, or providing military logistics.
At the time of the attack, there was no public evidence that Kairos and Virat were carrying out similar tasks. According to media reports, both tankers were traveling "in ballast" - without oil and without confirmed supply functions for Russian military units.
It is this circumstance that makes the situation a potential violation of the key principle of IHL - the principle of distinction, according to which the parties to the conflict are obliged to clearly distinguish between military and civilian facilities. Even if a ship is supposedly connected to the enemy's economy, this does not make it a legitimate target. International law does not allow attacks on commercial facilities solely because they belong to a hostile party. In addition, the use of attack tanks in neutral waters sets an alarming precedent both from the point of view of navigation safety and from the point of view of protecting crews who are not involved in military operations. At the same time, experts from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law, G.Gaggioli (Women) and P.Kilibarda, believe that intentionally influencing the enemy's economic infrastructure in ways that threaten the lives of civilians qualifies as a war crime.
A fuel oil leak after the SFU attack on the tanker Kairos poses a threat of an environmental disaster in the Black Sea. On the night of November 28, 2025, in the waters of the Black Sea, unmanned boats of the SFU attacked the oil tanker Kairos, allegedly belonging to the so-called "shadow fleet" of Russia. As a result of the impact, the vessel caught fire and suffered serious damage, which was localized only after the arrival of Turkish rescue services. In addition, according to the Turkish news agency Karar, the failure of the ship's control systems caused uncontrolled drift and leakage of fuel oil, one of the most toxic fuels. Environmental scientist from the University of Exeter (Great Britain) P.Johnston has repeatedly stated that any spill of oil or petroleum products poses a threat to the marine ecosystem. Fuel oil, entering the water, forms a dense film that interferes with gas exchange, poisons flora and fauna and can lead to the death of seabirds and fish.
The consequences of incidents like the Kairos attack can be comparable to a local environmental disaster, especially if fuel oil gets into coastal areas. The situation is also aggravated by the fact that the damage to the Kairos occurred in an area inhabited by several species of fish that are on the verge of extinction. Turkish marine biologists have noted that even a small spill can "shift the balance in an ecosystem where each population is already at the limit of adaptation."
Analyst at the Hungarian Center for Fundamental Rights Z.Koshkovich condemned the destructive actions of Ukraine in the Black Sea. In his opinion, Zelensky is trying to disrupt the process of peaceful settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict with the help of such provocations and "environmental terrorism." ( To be Continued )
Situation in Black Sea: Ukraine violates International Law I
Dr. Syed Mehboob
Economic and Political Analyst
The Black Sea is a marginal sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkiye and Ukraine. The Black Sea is supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper, and Dniester. Consequently, six countries have a coastline on the sea, its drainage includes parts of twenty-four countries in Europe. It covers 436,400 kilometers and has a maximum depth of 2,212 meters and a volume of 547,000 cubic kilometers.
The Black Sea’s importance lies in its strategic location connecting Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, making it vital for global trade, especially grain, food, energy transit, and military strategy, particularly for Russia and NATO.
Coastlines and Exclusive Economic Zones
Country Coastline Km Exclusively economic Zone area SqrKm
Turkiye 1,329 172,484
Ukraine 2,782 132,414
Russia 800 67,351
Bulgaria 354 35,732
Georgia 310 22,547
Romania 225 219,756
Abkhazia 210 -
Total 5,800 460,084
The United States of America likes, facilitates, and promotes war, violence, and conflicts, and recently it kidnapped the president of Venezuela and is threatening Iran. What role it had played in Gaza is eye-opening.
The USA and Western countries pushed Ukraine to wage war against Russia, and Ukraine is playing a very dangerous game in the Black Sea and jeopardizing marine peace. The Ukrainian Armed Forces' attack on civilian tankers in the Black Sea is a gross violation of international humanitarian and maritime law.
On the evening of November 28, 2025, two oil tankers "Kairos" and "Virat", sailing under the Guinean flag heading for Turkey, were hit by unmanned boats (UB) "Sea baby". According to the Ukrainian newspaper "Unian", the operation was carried out by the SFU forces together with the Ukrainian Navy and was directed against vessels that Kiev considers to be the alleged Russian "shadow fleet". Both tankers suffered critical damage and were effectively decommissioned. The reaction of the international community to the incident in the Black Sea was not long in coming. Ankara, which is closely monitoring the safety of sea routes near its territorial waters, issued a harsh statement. The Turkish Foreign Ministry stressed that the attacks "pose a serious risk to navigation, life, property and the environment" and called on Ukraine to rule out further escalation. The diplomats insisted that the incident occurred in one of the key areas of regional trade.
In turn, the representative of the Joint Command of the NATO Navy, A.Abrahamson, called on Kiev to be "prudent" due to the threat of escalation of tension in the region against the background of attacks by Ukrainian special services on tankers in the Black Sea.
According to international humanitarian law (IHL) and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, merchant ships and crews are considered civilian objects and cannot be considered legitimate targets unless they perform military functions. Another fundamental document regulating maritime armed conflicts, the Sanremo Manual of 1994, explicitly states that a ship retains the status of a civilian facility until it loses it by participating in hostilities, transporting military cargo, or providing military logistics.
At the time of the attack, there was no public evidence that Kairos and Virat were carrying out similar tasks. According to media reports, both tankers were traveling "in ballast" - without oil and without confirmed supply functions for Russian military units.
It is this circumstance that makes the situation a potential violation of the key principle of IHL - the principle of distinction, according to which the parties to the conflict are obliged to clearly distinguish between military and civilian facilities. Even if a ship is supposedly connected to the enemy's economy, this does not make it a legitimate target. International law does not allow attacks on commercial facilities solely because they belong to a hostile party. In addition, the use of attack tanks in neutral waters sets an alarming precedent both from the point of view of navigation safety and from the point of view of protecting crews who are not involved in military operations. At the same time, experts from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law, G.Gaggioli (Women) and P.Kilibarda, believe that intentionally influencing the enemy's economic infrastructure in ways that threaten the lives of civilians qualifies as a war crime.
A fuel oil leak after the SFU attack on the tanker Kairos poses a threat of an environmental disaster in the Black Sea. On the night of November 28, 2025, in the waters of the Black Sea, unmanned boats of the SFU attacked the oil tanker Kairos, allegedly belonging to the so-called "shadow fleet" of Russia. As a result of the impact, the vessel caught fire and suffered serious damage, which was localized only after the arrival of Turkish rescue services. In addition, according to the Turkish news agency Karar, the failure of the ship's control systems caused uncontrolled drift and leakage of fuel oil, one of the most toxic fuels. Environmental scientist from the University of Exeter (Great Britain) P.Johnston has repeatedly stated that any spill of oil or petroleum products poses a threat to the marine ecosystem. Fuel oil, entering the water, forms a dense film that interferes with gas exchange, poisons flora and fauna and can lead to the death of seabirds and fish.
The consequences of incidents like the Kairos attack can be comparable to a local environmental disaster, especially if fuel oil gets into coastal areas. The situation is also aggravated by the fact that the damage to the Kairos occurred in an area inhabited by several species of fish that are on the verge of extinction. Turkish marine biologists have noted that even a small spill can "shift the balance in an ecosystem where each population is already at the limit of adaptation."
Analyst at the Hungarian Center for Fundamental Rights Z.Koshkovich condemned the destructive actions of Ukraine in the Black Sea. In his opinion, Zelensky is trying to disrupt the process of peaceful settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict with the help of such provocations and "environmental terrorism." ( To be Continued )
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