Ukrainian drone strikes forced Russia to stop shipping in vital sea corridor
Ukrainian drone strikes forced Russia to stop shipping in vital sea corridor
乌克兰无人机袭击迫使俄罗斯停止在关键海上走廊的航运
Ukrainian drone strikes have forced Russia to completely halt shipping in the Sea of Azov in less than a week—showing once again how a country without traditional naval power can still effectively blockade maritime corridors. 乌克兰的无人机袭击在不到一周的时间内迫使俄罗斯完全停止了亚速海的航运，这再次表明，一个没有传统海军力量的国家依然能够有效地封锁海上走廊。
Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces have flown one-way attack drones to target and strike more than 100 Russian tankers and other ships every night between July 6 and July 13, along with posting video evidence showing such drone strikes. 乌克兰无人系统部队在7月6日至7月13日期间，每晚出动单向攻击无人机，瞄准并打击了100多艘俄罗斯油轮及其他船只，并发布了显示这些无人机袭击的视频证据。
The campaign has forced Russia to completely shut down the shipping route that flows from Russia’s Don River into the Sea of Azov, and to halt all Kerch Strait shipping transits from the Sea of Azov into the Black Sea, according to Reuters reporting. 据路透社报道，这一行动迫使俄罗斯完全关闭了从顿河通往亚速海的航线，并停止了所有从亚速海经刻赤海峡进入黑海的航运。
The shutdown of such maritime lanes has further isolated the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula by cutting off seaborne delivery of fuel in particular. Crimea had already been experiencing severe fuel rationing and power outages as Ukraine stepped up its mid- and long-range drone strike campaign on Russian energy infrastructure and supply lines, leaving behind damaged oil refineries with billowing black smoke and burned-out trucks littering highways. 这些海上航线的关闭进一步孤立了被俄罗斯占领的克里米亚半岛，特别是切断了燃料的海上运输。由于乌克兰加强了对俄罗斯能源基础设施和补给线的远程无人机打击行动，克里米亚此前已经历了严重的燃料配给和电力中断，受损的炼油厂冒着滚滚黑烟，公路上散落着烧毁的卡车。
Restrictions on shipping in and out of the Sea of Azov could also impact one-quarter of Russian grain exports, Reuters reported. Wheat prices have started rising because Russia is the world’s largest exporter of grains. 据路透社报道，对亚速海进出航运的限制还可能影响俄罗斯四分之一的粮食出口。由于俄罗斯是世界上最大的粮食出口国，小麦价格已经开始上涨。
“Ukrainian strikes against Russian seaborne gasoline transports over the past week represent a new phase in Ukraine’s efforts to isolate occupied Crimea from the Russian logistics network and to disrupt Russian seaborne shipping routes, especially for petroleum products and grain,” according to the Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, DC. 总部位于华盛顿特区的智库“战争研究所”表示：“过去一周乌克兰对俄罗斯海上汽油运输的打击，标志着乌克兰在将克里米亚从俄罗斯物流网络中孤立出来，并扰乱俄罗斯海上航线（特别是石油产品和粮食运输）方面进入了新阶段。”
The Ukrainian videos showing the strikes from the drones’ perspective typically cut off at the moment of impact. But burning ships are visible in some videos taken of the aftermath and can also be seen in public satellite imagery from the European Union’s Copernicus Sentinel satellites and other sources. 乌克兰发布的从无人机视角拍摄的袭击视频通常在撞击瞬间中断。但在一些事后拍摄的视频中，可以看到燃烧的船只，这些船只也可以在欧盟“哥白尼哨兵”卫星及其他来源的公开卫星图像中看到。
The Ukrainian drones appear to be primarily targeting the ships’ bridges that represent the command-and-control centers, which can force the crew to abandon ship, according to Salvatore Mercogliano, a professor of history at Campbell University in North Carolina and a merchant mariner. 北卡罗来纳州坎贝尔大学的历史学教授兼商船海员萨尔瓦多·梅尔科利亚诺（Salvatore Mercogliano）表示，乌克兰无人机似乎主要瞄准代表指挥控制中心的船桥，这可以迫使船员弃船。
“You’re not going to sink the ship like this, but this is a mission kill,” Mercogliano explained in a video posted to his channel “What’s Going on With Shipping?” “你不会通过这种方式击沉船只，但这属于‘任务杀伤’（mission kill），”梅尔科利亚诺在他名为“航运发生了什么？”（What’s Going on With Shipping?）的频道视频中解释道。
No navy necessary
无需海军
Most large Russian ships appear to have cleared out of the Sea of Azov with the exception of a cluster of about 25 vessels in the northeast, according to a review of public satellite imagery by the Ukrainian news publication Defense Express. Others are grouped in the Black Sea for possible cargo transfer operations. 据乌克兰新闻媒体《防务快报》（Defense Express）对公开卫星图像的审查显示，除东北部约25艘船只外，大多数俄罗斯大型船只似乎已撤出亚速海。其他船只则聚集在黑海，可能在进行货物转运作业。
Russian milbloggers who support the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine have complained about the apparent lack of protection for Russian ships in the Sea of Azov, according to the Institute of War. The Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet has already been forced to mostly hunker down in port after Ukraine’s earlier successes in using sea drones to damage and even sink warships. 据战争研究所称，支持克里姆林宫入侵乌克兰的俄罗斯军事博主们抱怨称，亚速海的俄罗斯船只明显缺乏保护。在乌克兰此前成功利用海上无人机损坏甚至击沉军舰后，俄罗斯海军黑海舰队已被迫大部分时间躲在港口内。
Ukrainian air and sea drones have continued to strike Russian warships and other vessels even in port. 乌克兰的空中和海上无人机甚至在港口内持续打击俄罗斯军舰和其他船只。
Ukrainian drones have also been attacking Russian ships in the Black Sea and beyond. On July 8, the Security Service of Ukraine posted a video showing a Sea Baby naval drone striking a crude oil tanker when it was supposedly located near the southern end of the Crimean Peninsula, according to Ukrainska Pravda. 乌克兰无人机也一直在黑海及其他地区袭击俄罗斯船只。据《乌克兰真理报》报道，7月8日，乌克兰国家安全局发布了一段视频，显示一架“海上宝贝”（Sea Baby）海军无人机在克里米亚半岛南端附近袭击了一艘原油油轮。
In December 2025, Ukraine even sent aerial drones to strike a “shadow fleet” tanker carrying sanctioned Russian oil in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya’s coast. Such feats show how Ukraine has managed to counter Russia’s traditional naval superiority and pressure Russian shipping lanes without fielding a naval force of crewed surface warships or submarines. 2025年12月，乌克兰甚至派遣空中无人机在利比亚海岸外的地中海袭击了一艘运载受制裁俄罗斯石油的“影子船队”油轮。这些壮举表明，乌克兰如何在没有部署载人水面军舰或潜艇海军力量的情况下，成功对抗俄罗斯的传统海军优势并向俄罗斯航线施压。
A similar scenario is playing out in the Strait of Hormuz shipping chokepoint, where Iran now claims the authority to charge a transit fee and has used drone and missile strikes to halt much of the usual commercial shipping traffic despite the large presence of US military warships and aircraft. 类似的场景正在霍尔木兹海峡这一航运咽喉要道上演，尽管有大量美国军舰和飞机存在，伊朗现在声称有权收取过境费，并利用无人机和导弹袭击停止了大部分常规商业航运。