Russia Loses First Ship Transporting Ammunition and Shahed Drone Parts From Iran — How Many Vessels Still Remain?

Ukrainian forces have struck a Russian vessel in the Caspian Sea that was transporting military cargo from Iran, marking the first confirmed loss of its kind.

The cargo ship Port Olya-4 was hit in an airstrike by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces.

Ship tracking data from MarineTraffic shows the vessel was off the Iranian coast on August 1. By August 12th, it was en route to Russia, and on August 14th, it was struck near the port of Olya in the Astrakhan region.

The vessel partially sank following the attack.

Astrakhan region governor Igor Babushkin claimed the damage had been caused by “fragments of drones, all of which were shot down.”

Evading sanctions

Port Olya-4 was used to transport Shahed drone components and ammunition from Iran.

It is owned by sanctioned Russian shipping firm MG-Flot LLC, formerly TRANSMORFLOT LLC, linked to Astrakhan businessman Jamaldin Pashayev.

Pashayev built his business around the commercial port of Olya, promoted as a key hub for the ‘North-South’ transport corridor intended for trade with sanctioned Iran.

His companies have handled Russian military exports since 2021, signing more than 200 contracts for shipping weapons to various countries.

According to Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Pashayev and his firms are part of the supply chain to sanctioned Alabuga JSC, which manufactures Shahed drones.

Logistics and vessels

The US sanctioned Port Olya-4 in September 2024 as property of MG-Flot LLC. The company owns 26 vessels, some used to transport weapons for Russia.

Ukrainian intelligence says MG-Flot still operates sanctioned ships for military cargo, including:

• Anastasiia,
• Askar-Sarydzha,
• Sapfir,
• Gasret Aliev (also carries stolen Ukrainian grain),
• Genrikh Gasanov,
• Kompozitor Elza Ibragimova,
• Lady D,
• Lady Mariia,
• Lady R,
• Maia-1,
• Olga,
• Port Olya-1,
• Port Olya-2,Rasul Gamzatov,
• Sona,
• Valentin Emirov,
• Port Olya-3,
• Boris Kustodiev,
• Kompozitor Rakhmaninov.

In order to move Iranian components and equipment to Alabuga, listed in documents under the cover name ‘Irlandia’, Russia uses three ‘North-South’ corridor routes: Trans-Caspian, Western and Eastern.

The Trans-Caspian route relies on maritime transport across the Caspian Sea, using Russian, Iranian, Kazakh, Turkmen and Azerbaijani ports:

• Russia: Astrakhan, Olya, Makhachkala
• Iran: Enzeli, Nowshahr, Amirabad
• Kazakhstan: Aktau, Kuryk
• Turkmenistan: Turkmenbashi
• Azerbaijan: Alat

Standard 20- and 40-foot containers are used, each carrying four or eight boxes, before being transferred to road or rail transport.