A cargo vessel pictured leaving the port of Odesa, Ukraine, 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/STR
At least seven people were killed and 11 were injured in a Russian missile strike on port infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region on Wednesday evening, the third such attack in four days, Odesa region Governor Oleh Kiper said.
All the victims of the attack were Ukrainian citizens, seven of whom were in critical condition, Kiper said, adding that Russia was aiming to “disrupt the work of the Ukrainian grain corridor by killing civilians and destroying infrastructure”.
According to Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine Oleksiy Kuleba, Russia struck the Panama-flagged civilian container ship Shui Spirit with a ballistic missile. The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority said that the vessel had been located in the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk to the south of Odesa when Russia targeted it in a “horrific terrorist attack”.
“Today, Ukraine remains a guarantor of global food security. Therefore, it is crucial to end this terror through sufficient weapons, air defence systems, diplomacy, sanctions, and punishment for every war crime”, Kuleba said.
The attack is the third Russian missile strike on civilian vessels in ports around Odesa reported by the Ukrainian authorities in the past four days.
On Monday, a 60-year-old Ukrainian man was killed and five foreign citizens were injured when a Russian ballistic missile hit a Palau-flagged civilian ship in the port of Odesa, while on Sunday a Saint Kitts and Nevis-flagged ship was damaged in a strike on the nearby Pivdennyi port.
Kuleba called those attacks “intimidation and an attempt to obstruct the work of the Ukrainian maritime corridor”, warning they would lead to “increased instability in sensitive regions of the world that rely on food imports” as well as “heightened tensions in international relations”.
Writing on X after Wednesday’s attack, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha reiterated his call for the international community to condemn Russian attacks on civilian targets and to “take action to stop the aggressor” to ensure freedom of navigation and global food security.