The Ministry responsible for development and infrastructure affairs said UkraineA Russian missile strike damaged a civilian ship loaded with corn flying the flag of St. Kitsoneves, in the Ukrainian port of Pevdeny near Odessa, on Sunday.
The ship bears the name “Parisa”, and was loaded with 6,000 tons of… maize.
The ministry added on Facebook that the 15 crew members, Egyptians and Syrians, were unharmed.
She said that this was the twentieth time that a civilian ship had been damaged due to Russian attacks.
Later, Ukrainian officials said a Russian missile hit a Palau-flagged ship in a port Odessa Southern Ukraine, killing a Ukrainian and wounding 5 crew members, in the second attack of its kind within two days.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sepia said on the “X” platform that two ships were damaged in the grain export center in the Black Sea, without providing details about the condition of the two ships, denouncing Russia’s actions.
He added: “We must unite the efforts of all responsible countries and organizations to ensure freedom of navigation in… Black Sea and global food security.”
The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment, and Moscow has repeatedly denied attacking civilian targets.
The governor of the Odessa region, Ole Kiper, said in a post broadcast on the Telegram application that the man killed in the latest attack was a port worker, and the five injured men were foreign members of the ship’s crew.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba stated that the ship was called “Optima”, and said that it had arrived in Odessa hours before the attack.
Kuliba said Russia “In this way, it is trying to destroy shipping in the Black Sea and ensure food security. The consequences can only mean more instability in sensitive regions that depend on food imports, and fuel tension in international relations.”
