Russia carried out targeted strikes on civilian cargo ships sailing through the Black Sea shipping corridor under the flags of Tanzania and Liberia on Tuesday, July 14, killing one person and injuring three, Odesa Oblast Military Administration head Oleh Kiper reported.
Russian forces also carried out another strike on port infrastructure in Odesa Oblast that evening. An enemy drone struck a civilian vessel flying the flag of the Marshall Islands, sparking a fire on board. Two people were killed in that strike.
Kiper earlier said the captain of one of the ships was killed in the attack. The vessel’s crew of 11 was evacuated to shore, with three of them injured.
“Every one of these cynical enemy strikes is a war crime against civilians, civilian shipping and global food security,” Kiper said.
Russia justified the strikes on the civilian ships by claiming it had targeted “vessels being used in the interests of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.”
Kiper later reported that emergency crews had extinguished a fire at an industrial facility that Russia had also struck. The attack ignited a storage tank containing sunflower oil; rescuers managed to prevent the fire from spreading further.
On July 13, Russia struck a civilian merchant ship flying the flag of Togo in Odesa Oblast, killing five crew members and injuring 12.
The independent Russian outlet Agentstvo reported that Russia has intensified strikes on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports in response to Ukrainian strikes on shadow fleet tankers in the Sea of Azov and has reported daily strikes on Ukrainian ships since July 12.
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