A Russian chemical tanker has been hit by a Ukrainian sea drone strike near the Crimean Bridge, according to officials.

The ship was badly damaged when it was struck in the Kerch Strait, which lies near the strategic bridge linking Russia to Crimea.

There were 11 crew members on board when the drone hit overnight and the engine room was damaged.

No one was reportedly hurt in the attack but the bridge was shut and ferry transport was suspended for several hours.

Russia’s maritime transport agency named the vessel as an SIG tanker – and gave its location as 17 miles south of the Crimean Bridge.

‘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 on Telegram

Russian media said the tanker was hit while approaching the Kerch Strait that links the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, separating Crimea – Ukraine’s peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014 – and Russia’s Taman peninsula.

An unnamed Ukrainian security service source said the attack was conducted by Ukraine’s security and naval forces in its territorial waters, using 450kg of TNT explosives and sea drones.

Sea drones are small, unmanned vessels which operate on or below the water’s surface. 

It comes just one day after a Russian warship was destroyed in an attack on a naval base in the Black Sea.

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