In a Telegram post on Monday, Ukraine’s main intelligence directorate reported that a cargo ship, sent to Syria to retrieve Russian military equipment, experienced an engine failure while transiting near the Strait of Gibraltar, a narrow waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.

“The cargo ship Sparta, sent by Russia to retrieve its weapons and equipment from Syria, broke down off the coast of Portugal due to a malfunction in the fuel pipe of its main engine,” Ukrainian intelligence wrote in the update. 

The ship tracking website Marine Traffic shows the Vladivostok-bound cargo ship, Ursa Major, previously registered as Sparta III, drifting on the high seas near Portugal. A tug vessel appears to be approaching Sparta. 

Another view of the vessel…

The Kyiv Independent noted that it could not verify the intel agency’s claim whether Sparta was part of a withdrawal operation from Syria.  

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime earlier this month, two Russian military bases in the country—the Hmeimim Air Base and the Tartus Naval Base—have faced constant threats from the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, also known as HTS.

Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “there are no final decisions” about Russia’s bases in Syria. Moscow said diplomatic staff were evacuated from the country.

Satellite images from Maxar show that Russian military personnel have been winding down operations at Khmeimim Air Base. 

Russia continues evacuation from Syria.

Satellite images from Maxar show military equipment concentrated at Russian bases in Tartus and Khmeimim, withdrawn from multiple outposts across Syria. pic.twitter.com/S9mz7LMsoi

— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 18, 2024

The big question for the Sparta vessel is whether any US Navy submarines with special forces units lurk beneath.