Ursa Major sinking disrupts Russian military supply chain, says Ukrainian Navy

The “veteran of military transportation” was of great importance for the so-called Syrian Express and the incident will have a long-lasting impact on Russia's logistical capabilities.

The Ursa Major “was transporting valuable and sophisticated foreign-made equipment that Russia cannot produce itself,” he said. 

Without this equipment, “the Russians could not load Kalibr (cruise missiles - ed.) in Novorossiysk for six months. This is just to understand how important this equipment was.”

The 9,500-dwt (deadweight tonnage) vessel built in 2009 sank in international waters near the Spanish Mediterranean ports of Aguilas and Oran on Dec. 23 after an engine room explosion.

According to the owner, the vessel, which was sailing between St. Petersburg and Vladivostok, was the target of a "terrorist act". Three explosions on the starboard side of the ship allegedly caused the sinking.

The Ursa Major was operated by a subsidiary of the sanctioned Russian defense company Oboronlogistika.

Its cargo included two Liebherr mobile cranes for the port of Vladivostok, which is severely overloaded due to a lack of cranes, and two 45-ton hatches for the construction of a new nuclear icebreaker, Project 10510, Oliver Alexander, an OSINT analyst, wrote on X.

Their loss is expected to significantly affect loading/unloading times in Vladivostok and cause major delays in the icebreaker's construction.

On Dec. 24, Pletenchuk said that Russia faced "systemic problems" in maintaining its fleet, but gave no indication that Kyiv was involved in the incident.