Ukrainian intelligence helped identify Russian “shadow fleet” tanker detained by France

Ukrainian intelligence helped identify a tanker of the Russian “shadow fleet”, which was later detained by French special forces.

This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, reports Ukrinform.  

According to Zelensky, this vessel may also be involved in the launch of drones over Europe.

“The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine transmitted information that the Boracay tanker began its journey from Primorsk. The tanker was stopped. There were special services of the Russian Federation there. What is important, the captain was a Chinese citizen. I think this is a common practice of the Russian Federation. The tanker was released three days later,” the president commented.

Zelenskyy stressed that the detention of the tanker does not mean that “the oil will not continue to follow its own path.”

We would ecall, earlier Reuters reported that France detained a tanker of the Russian “shadow fleet” on suspicion of violating sanctions. The vessel was hit by Western sanctions in October 2024 (UK) and February 2025 (EU). It was said that the tanker was involved in the transportation of Russian oil and petroleum products, and “engaged in activities the purpose or effect of which is to destabilize Ukraine… or to benefit from or provide support to the Russian government.”

The vessel’s previous name was Kiwala. It changed its name to Boracay in December 2024, but in some shipping databases it is listed as Pushpa.

But it later became known that the vessel may be involved in the launch of drones over Denmark.

“The tanker was actually detained (as our own mini-investigation shows) on suspicion that on the evening of September 22, 2025, while near Copenhagen, at a time when the airport in the Danish capital was closed due to unknown drones, it could have been the launch site for those drones. By the way, after those events, a German frigate watched it for 4 hours,” said Andriy Klymenko, project manager at the Institute for Black Sea Strategic Studies.

For several days, the ship was anchored near Saint-Nazaire. On October 3, 2025, the Boracay tanker resumed its voyage and headed for the Suez Canal.

Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that more than 500 tankers of the “shadow fleet” are supplying Russian oil to circumvent sanctions.