Ukraine’s expanding maritime drone campaign struck another 11 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov overnight Tuesday, signaling a broader effort to paralyze Moscow’s maritime logistics, restrict military supplies to occupied Crimea and disrupt Russian oil exports. Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces and widely known by his callsign “Madyar,” reported that the latest targets included five tankers, five cargo vessels and one tugboat.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. According to Brovdi, Ukrainian forces have targeted 116 vessels during nine days of operations. The objective is not necessarily to sink every vessel. Disabling ships, forcing them into repairs and making the route too dangerous for crews, insurers and shipping companies could be enough to freeze Russia’s maritime transport network. Dismantling the myth of Russia’s “internal sea” The campaign directly challenges one of Vladimir Putin’s central claims following Russia’s occupation of southern Ukraine – that the Sea of Azov had effectively become an uncontested Russian “internal sea.” Moscow presented control of the waterway as a permanent geopolitical achievement. Russia occupied Ukrainian ports, restricted international navigation and used the sea to transport fuel, military cargo, grain and other commodities with little fear of interference. That assumption is now being dismantled. “The Sea of Azov was Russia’s second great trophy after Crimea,” Ukrainian journalist and military blogger Dmytro Karpenko, known online as “Apostle,” observed, arguing that Ukraine’s Defense Forces are now systematically destroying the Kremlin’s illusion of complete control.