The video shows a Ukrainian long-range aircraft strike on a Russian port used to support its 'shadow ships'.

• Ukrainian long-range warplanes attacked a key Russian port over the weekend, a security source said.

• The video shows the pilot plane hitting the center and causing a huge fire.

• The Russian port of Ust-Luga is used to support silent and stealthy “shadow ships”.

Ukraine's military launched an attack on Russia's main commercial port over the weekend, using long-range drones to target and disrupt the operations of Moscow's “shadow ships” evading sanctions.

The Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, launched an attack on Saturday in Ust-Luga, a port in northwestern Russia near the city of St.

An SBU source said the drones flew more than 550 miles and “successfully hit” their targets, with one box hitting the plane full of gas condensate, causing an explosion that severely damaged one container and sent explosives into three others nearby.

A video obtained by BI appears to show the moment the drone hit the containers. Strange gunfire can be heard in the background, suggesting that Russia tried to shoot down the empty plane as it approached its target.

However, these efforts were unsuccessful, and the drone hit Russian infrastructure, causing a huge fire and explosion. The SBU source, quoting experts who have not yet been identified, said that the repair of the facility will take some time and will cause the operation of the port to be disrupted.

BI was unable to independently verify the details provided by the SBU of the attack.

Ust-Luga is Russia's largest commercial port in the Leningrad region and an important transportation hub near the Baltic Sea. An SBU source said Moscow uses the facility to sell oil and gas using so-called “shadow ships.”

“Shadow ships” refers to the collection of ships used by Moscow to avoid international sanctions on its foreign energy sales imposed as a result of its invasion of Ukraine and to maintain the flow of money necessary to support its war efforts.

According to the European Parliament, this murky, treacherous network consists of aging and poorly maintained vessels with unclear identities and origins. Ships use a variety of tactics to hide their movements and operations, such as false data transmission, ship-to-ship transmissions, disabling automatic identification systems, and other deceptive practices.

“As Russia relies heavily on 'shadow ships' to maintain oil exports,” the European Parliament wrote in a forum published last year, “the EU and allied countries have implemented measures to combat these evasion tactics.”

It said these measures include sanctions on certain vessels and greater international cooperation to disrupt the nefarious activity that helps strengthen Russia's war chest. However, Ukraine seems to favor direct military action.

“Drone sanctions from the SBU reduce the money Russia needs to fight,” a security source said, according to a version of their statement shared with BI.

The Ust-Luga attack over the weekend marks Ukraine's latest long-range strike on Russian soil. Kyiv relies heavily on its stockpile of home-grown drones for border operations, using the less-than-explosive systems to target Moscow's power and military facilities.

In recent months, Ukrainian drones have attacked Russian ammunition depots, airfields and weapons depots.

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