Ukraine updates: Ukrainian drone damages Russian oil tanker

An apparent drone attack has hit another Russian vessel in the Black Sea.

An oil tanker was struck early Saturday in waters near the Kerch Bridge in Crimea. As a precaution, traffic on the bridge was closed for three hours.

Attacks in the Black Sea by both Russia and Ukraine have picked up since Moscow exited a grain export deal last month.

Here's an overview of some of the main stories concerning Russia's war in Ukraine on Saturday, August 5:

Russian tanker damaged by drone attack near Crimea

A Russian tanker was damaged early Saturday morning in the Kerch Strait near the bridge linking Russian-occupied Crimea to the Russian mainland.

Sea rescue services based in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk said they were dispatched to help move the tanker, which was unable to operate on its own, Russia's TASS news agency reported.

No fuel had spilled from the ship, which had 11 people on board, TASS reported.

The tanker SIG suffered a hole at the waterline in the area of the engine room, "presumably as a result of an attack by a marine drone," the Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport said on Telegram. "The ship is afloat."

Russia-appointed officials in Crimea blamed Ukrainian drones for the attack. Ukraine rarely claims direct responsibility for drone strikes.

Vladimir Rogov, a Russia-installed official in the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia, wrote on Telegram that the explosion on the ship was visible from land near the Yakovenkovo settlement not far from the Crimean bridge.

Traffic on the bridge was halted and resumed after three hours early Saturday.

The latest attack in the Black Sea came a day after Ukraine said it had carried out a seaborne drone strike on a Russian navy ship at Novorossiysk naval base in southern Russia.