Russia attacks two Ukrainian ports, damaging three Turkish-owned vessels

KYIV: Russia attacked two Ukrainian ports on Friday, damaging three Turkish-owned vessels including a ship carrying food supplies, Ukrainian officials and one ship owner said, days after Moscow threatened to cut “Ukraine off from the sea.”

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed retaliation against Kyiv’s maritime drone attacks on Moscow’s “shadow fleet” tankers thought to be used to export oil, which Kyiv says is Russia’s main source of funding for its almost four-year-old war.

The attack on Friday came hours after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Putin that a limited ceasefire for energy facilities and ports could be beneficial.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted photos which showed a large fire burning aboard a ship in the port of Chornomorsk in Odesa region, with firefighters tackling the blaze.

“This proves once again that Russians not only fail to take the current opportunity for diplomacy seriously enough, but also continue the war precisely to destroy normal life in Ukraine,” he said.

That vessel’s owner, Cenk Shipping, said the Cenk T vessel had been subject to attack around 1600 Ukraine time (1400 GMT).

There were no casualties among the crew, and damage was limited, it added.

Reuters verified the moment of the attack seen on a video published on X. The vessel in the clip matched Cenk T, and the cranes and buildings matched satellite imagery of the Chornomorsk port.

Fabian Hinz, research fellow for defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the weapon seen was a Russian Geran-2 drone in its loitering configuration.

Russia’s defense ministry did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

“The strike is aimed at civilian logistics and commercial shipping,” Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said.