Two more vessels have been damaged in Russian air strikes on the Ukrainian port of Odesa, authorities reported on Monday.
Regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram that the moored general cargo ships were the 5,800-dwt Optima (built 2008) and 2,700-dwt NS Moon (built 1990).
Kiper and deputy prime minister Oleksiy Kuleba did not clarify whether they were struck directly or by debris following a ballistic missile attack against a grain warehouse, which was hit.
One person was killed and eight were injured, including two who are in serious condition.
“All the injured and deceased are employees of the port infrastructure,” Kiper said.
The Palau-flagged Optima was damaged on 7 October during a previous Russian attack against the Odesa terminal, in which a 60-year-old Ukrainian port worker died.
Officials at the Optima’s Greece-based managers Usta Shipping Co could not be contact for comment.
No contact details exist for the owners and managers of the Belize-flagged NS Moon.
Russia has frequently attacked port infrastructure in the greater Odesa region and on the Danube since invading Ukraine in 2022.
Direct strikes on ships, however, had been rare until last month.
Including today’s incidents, six vessels have been damaged since September — five in port and one at sea. None is known to have suffered critical damage.
Ukrainian authorities have also not reported any injuries among the ships’ crews — with the likely exception of the Optima, some of whose seafarers were hurt in the first attack on the vessel last week, Kuleba said on Monday.
Ukrainian officials and observers have interpreted the attacks as a conscious effort by Moscow to obstruct Kyiv’s maritime trade, which has been going surprisingly smoothly since the end of a United Nations Black Sea safe corridor scheme in August 2023. More than 2,500 voyages have been recorded since.
Insurance premiums have increased as a result of the latest attacks, but Ukraine’s seaborne trade does not seem to have been affected so far.
Container liners continue to travel into the region and even a company that had one of its ships damaged said it will stay in the trade.
“We will continue, this is our business,” Jamil el Khatib, owner of Piraeus and Beirut-based AK Shipping, told TradeWinds on Friday.
AK Shipping’s 6,273-dwt general cargo ship Paresa (built 1992) was struck by a Russian missile on 6 October.
In the two times since September that the Russian government has assumed responsibility for attacks against ships, it justified them with the argument that the vessels were military targets carrying weapons into Ukraine.
However, one owner whose ship was attacked vehemently rejected Moscow’s claims.
Kyiv has denied the claims as well and riposted that Russian attacks have even damaged humanitarian cargo, as in the case of the 1,679-teu Shui Spirit (built 2000), which was hit in Chornomorsk last week.
According to agriculture minister Vitaliy Koval, a load of 45 containers of packaged sunflower oil destined for Palestinian territory on behalf of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) were damaged when the moored ship “came under fire” early on 10 October.
A WFP spokesman contacted by TradeWinds confirmed the incident but said he had yet no confirmation about the extent of the damage.
