Ukraine claims strike on Russia shadow fleet off coast of Libya

Ukraine says it has attacked a Russian “shadow fleet” tanker with aerial drones 1,250 miles from its border, in the first such strike in the Mediterranean Sea since Moscow’s full-scale invasion nearly four years ago.

- Peter Beaumont Pjotr Sauer Jennifer Rankin Brussels

Vladimir Putin said such maritime attacks would not disrupt any supplies

Yesterday’s strike off the coast of Libya, reportedly causing critical damage, took place on the day of Vladimir Putin’s annual end of year press conference in which he said Russia would respond to Ukrainian attacks on shadow fleet tankers.

The strike also came hours after EU leaders pledged a €90bn (£79bn) loan for Ukraine to meet urgent financial needs, but failed to agree on securing that loan against Russia’s frozen assets in the bloc.

After talks ended in the early hours of yesterday, the president of the European Council, Anténio Costa, said: “We committed and we delivered.” He said EU leaders had approved a decision to make a €90bn loan to Ukraine for the next two years backed by the EU budget, which Kyiv would repay only once Russia pays reparations.

EU leaders entered the summit on Thursday with many wanting to secure the urgently needed loan against some of Russia’s €210bn frozen assets on the continent. But the plan hinged on the demand of Belgium, which hosts 88% of the Russian funds in the EU, to have unlimited budget guarantees from other member states if Moscow won a successful claim for damages.

Euroclear in Brussels is being sued by the Russian central bank for $230bn (£172bn) while its top executives have also faced a campaign of intimidation orchestrated by Russian intelligence, the Guardian reported this week.