No one was hurt in the attack on the SIG tanker, but the Crimean Bridge and ferry transport were suspended for several hours, the Reuters news agency reported, citing Russian maritime officials.
"The SIG tanker ... received a hole in the engine room near the waterline on the starboard side, preliminarily as a result of a sea drone attack," Russia's Federal Marine and River Transport agency said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app, as quoted by Reuters.
The attack occurred as the chemical tanker approached the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The SIG and its owner were in 2019 sanctioned by the United States for helping provide jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria, according to Reuters.
Ukraine's Interfax news agency cited a Ukrainian security service source it did not name as saying the attack was conducted by Ukraine's security and naval forces in its territorial waters, using sea drones.
On Friday, Ukraine's security service and navy damaged the Russian warship Olenegorsky Gornyak in a sea drone attack at the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, according to reports.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Saturday is day 528 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters, ukrinform.net