Russian strike on ship carrying Ukrainian wheat kills sailor in maritime corridor
Russian forces attacked the merchant dry cargo vessel MERA QUEEN, sailing under the flag of Guinea-Bissau and loaded with Ukrainian wheat, on Wednesday evening, killing one crew member and injuring three others, according to regional governor Oleh Kiper and the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA).
The attack damaged the vessel’s hull and caused a fire on board. One crew member, a Ukrainian citizen, was killed. Three other people were injured.
The crew was evacuated to shore, where the wounded are receiving assistance.
The dry cargo vessel was also brought to the berth, and specialists are carrying out urgent work to localize the damage and stabilize its technical condition, officials said.
“Such strikes once again demonstrate the systematic and cynical nature of Russian terror, as well as the aggressor’s creation of threats both to the lives of civilians and to global food security as a whole,” Kiper wrote.
The Sea Ports Authority said Russia’s repeated attacks on civilian vessels and Ukraine’s port infrastructure are “further evidence of a deliberate campaign against freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.”
Russian attacks on shipping
In July, Russia intensified attacks on ships using Ukraine’s Black Sea maritime corridor.
On July 13, Russian forces struck a civilian vessel flying the flag of Togo in Odesa Oblast while it was unloading mineral fertilizers. Five crew members were killed and five others were injured.
The next day, Russia attacked two more civilian vessels in the Black Sea — merchant ships flying the flags of Tanzania and Liberia. The captain of one of the ships was killed.
On the evening of July 17, a vessel flying the flag of the Marshall Islands also came under Russian attack. The strikes continued after that.
On July 22, no vessel passed through the maritime corridor. The Ukrainian government described that as “deliberate economic and humanitarian terror” at the peak of the harvest season.
Against that backdrop, Ukraine convened an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to urge all states, especially those “directly concerned,” to demand that Russia stop attacking shipping.
At the same time, the Pivdennyi Mining and Processing Plant announced that it was suspending extraction operations and temporarily reducing activity.