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Russian frigate seemed low on fuel when firing shots
The Russian frigate 'Admiral Grigorovich', which fired warning shots at the 'Bright Future' on June 16, but was not on hand to impede the Royal Navy’s seizure on June 14 of the sanctioned Cameroon-flagged Aframax tanker 'Smyrtos' (IMO: 9389100), appeared to be running very low on fuel. On several occasions she has been refueled, not by one of the numerous oilers equipped for the task and which support far-distant Russian Navy deployments, but by a Project 304 Amur-class floating repair ship, normally used to provide dockside workshop facilities when supporting long-range deployments. Although equipped with five-tonne cranes, the Amur-class vessels are not equipped for conducting replenishments at sea, and have been spotted instead coming alongside the 'Admiral Grigorovich' and conducting makeshift fuel transfer operations at sea. The 'Admiral Grigorovich' did not appear to be equipped with a Ka-27 helicopter, which other ships of the same class often are, and which might help with replenishment tasks. Wjen the shots were fired by the 'Admiral Grigorovich', she was drifting, presumably to save fuel. The 'Admiral Grigorovich' was back, shadowing Russian tankers through the Channel on June 18, escorting the OFAC and UK sanctioned Russian-flagged Aframax 'Forwarder' (IMO: 9419448), which had loaded 730,000 barrels of Urals crude at Ust Luga on June 2 and was bound for Dongying. The two Russian ships were shadowed on their way through the Channel by the HMS 'Tyne (P281)', without any attempt to repeat the seizure operation carried out earlier in the week against the 'Smyrtos' (IMO: 9389100), which was being kept at anchor off Weymouth, in part to ensure that its crew cannot claim asylum in the UK. Three other Aframax tankers, which had loaded at Ust-Luga and Primorsk also passed through the Channel on June 18, but were not on any sanctions list, namely the Palau-flagged 'Visund' (IMO: 9378864), the Barbados-flagged 'Aequora Fortune' (IMO: 9297503) and the Maltese-flagged 'Hellas Calafia' (IMO: 9798088).
Yacht skipper accused MoD of downplaying incident with Russian warship
Jane and Alan Kelvey, aged 69 and 71, the retired British couple, which was subjected to Russian warning shots in the English Channel, have accused the Ministry of Defence that they wanted to downplay the incident for fear it was inflammatory. On June 16 at 11.40 a.m. the couple reported that the Russian frigate 'Admiral Grigorovich' had fired warning shots at their yacht. British military sources played down the encounter as a “nautical incident” outside UK territorial waters in foggy conditions, rather than escalatory behaviour by Russia, suggesting that the fault lay with the pleasure boat. On June 17, Mr. Kelvey denied that he and his wife had done anything wrong. The retirees had set off from Lymington, Hants, on June 16 at 4 a.m. and were headed for Cherbourg. They were about 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight when the gunshots rang out. The Russian defence ministry insisted the Kelveys had been following a “dangerous course” and said one of its ships had made “several attempts” to contact them by firing flares and sound signals at the vessel. Kelvey expressed annoyance at claims he and his wife had done anything wrong, and the incident wasn’t a problem of fog. They could see the fregate as clearly as they did, and there were not any flares at all. The frigate did not display an AIS signal. The conditions were clear and the couple had their sails up. They were just on their course and, as a sailing boat under sail, got the right of way. The warship wasn’t displaying anything to indicate that there was in trouble. The couple only realised the ship’s origin when they saw Cyrillic writing on the side of the vessel. There was no danger of a collision, and the skipper had seen the frigate for miles. But when the 'Bright Future' was about 400-500 yards away, the frigate put five blasts on his horn, which meant: ‘Have you seen me?’” At that point the yacht changed a couple of degrees to port just to give the frigate a bit more clearance. It sounded five more blasts on its horn again, and then there were a few shots of small arms fire. They weren’t close enough to see the weapon used. They turned their engine on and disappeared at 90 degrees. Once out of danger, Ms Kelyey phoned the Coastguard, because it was a hazard of navigation. The couple chose not to make radio contact with the Coastguard because it might upset the Russian commander, because he could be monitoring the radio. The Kelveys spent the night of June 16/17 in Cherbourg, where French police greeted them, and they were planning to proceed to Guernsey and further on to Brittany. It was to be the start to a two-month sailing trip that was a repeat of a dream adventure they undertook in 2024, after retiring from the successful signage business they had built from scratch in Uxbridge, west London. On June 17, the British prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer,reacting on the incident, said the shots of the Russians were “reckless” but not “sinister”. Report with photos: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/17/we-had-right-of-way-when-british-fair-play-met-russian-firepower-off-the-isle-of-wight “
Warning shots of Russian frigate towards yacht of retired couple in English Channel
Britain's defence ministry was investigating reports of an incident in the English Channel, after the 'Bright Future', a Bavaria 39 based in Lymington, Hampshire, reported a Russian warship firing warning shots on June 16, 2026, at 11.40 a.m., about 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight just outside British waters. It was being treated as an isolated incident not linked to the UK interception of the tanker 'Smyrtos' in the early hours of June 14. The UK-registered yacht alleged that the Russian frigate, the 'Admiral Grigorovich', fired warning shots at a distance of approximately 500 yards (457 metres). The small, motor-less yacht had drifted towards the warship in foggy conditions after setting off from the UK. Russia's Defence Ministry said the yacht had been on a "dangerous approach" towards the warship, but the crew, the retired couple Jane und Alan Kelvey, said they were definitely not on a collision course. The warship did not attempt to hail the British yacht by radio, but gave out five blasts on their horn, and they immediately turned two degrees to port so they could see they had made a deliberate change of course, which meant they had seen them. About a minutelater they gave another five blasts on their horn, immediately followed by four to five small arms fire. No injuries or damage to the yacht have been reported. The yacht, was continuing its journey after a welfare visit by a vessel dispatched from British naval vessel HMS 'Tyne'. Another British navy ship, the patrol vessel HMS 'Mersey', was monitoring the Russian frigate at the time of the incident. Report with video: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20yzm84r7lo
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