Russia Today (RT)
Analysis #121 ยท July 9, 2026 ยท 3 min read
Politics
RT Counted Two Tankers. The Other Nineteen Were Busy Burning.
RT: "Ukraine attacks Russian oil tankers"RT/Gov. Yury Slyusar: 2 tankers hit in Taganrog Bay, no oil spilled, ~70 drones interceptedUkraine drone commander Robert Brovdi: 8 tankers hit that same night, not 2Ukraine's drone forces: 21 vessels hit in 72 hours, including 19 tankers; Crimea declared a state of emergencyOwner: Russian Government
๐Ÿ‘Decoded
Ukraine has been busy this week, setting Russian oil tankers on fire like it's got a quota to hit. Kyiv's own count: 21 vessels struck in 72 hours, 19 of them tankers, all feeding fuel to occupied Crimea. * RT's headline: "Ukraine attacks Russian oil tankers." So far, accurate. Then you get to the numbers, and RT has sourced them entirely from the local governor: two tankers hit, no oil spilled, one crew evacuated, minor injuries. Russian air defenses, RT adds proudly, shot down about 70 drones overnight. * Two. Not twenty-one. RT didn't invent that number โ€” that's genuinely what one governor said about one bay on one night. It's just that RT built an entire headline around the two tankers that make Russian air defense look like the hero of the week, while the other nineteen are currently on fire somewhere off camera. * Think of it like a team that lost 21-2 putting out a highlight reel of their two goals, captioned "We Scored Twice." Technically true. Weirdly missing the final score. * Ukraine's own drone commander says it wasn't even two that night โ€” he's claiming eight tankers hit in that single strike alone, part of a campaign so effective Crimea has declared a state of emergency over fuel. Someone in this story is rounding down hard, and it isn't the guy setting things on fire. * RT's numbers aren't fake. They're just the two tankers Russia felt like mentioning, in a week where the scoreboard read twenty-one.
โ€œRT ran the highlight reel of the two goals they blocked. It skipped the final score: 21.โ€
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