The Turkish owners of an old, small cargo ship stuck in war-torn Ukraine confirmed the vessel was hit by incoming fire and took on water.
Two missiles flew into the 7,600-dwt Kuruoglu 3 (built 1990) as it was moored in Kherson — a port city right on the frontline of Russia’s war on Ukraine — and hit it from the starboard side, Ambrey Intelligence cited the vessel’s owners as saying on Wednesday.
The missiles, which according to Ambrey were likely launched by Russian forces, caused the Kuruoglu 3 to start taking on water.
“It is only a matter of time before the ropes break and our ship sinks,” Ambrey cited owners Kuroglu Denizcilik as saying.
The strike took place on 27 February. Ambrey said it saw images of the vessel listing heavily on the starboard side.
About 60 commercial ships were trapped in Ukraine when Russia invaded the country in February 2022. Several of them were small vessels, like the Kuruoglu 3, stranded in Kherson.
Only five trapped vessels managed to get out safely through a maritime corridor that Kyiv set up in August last year when Russia refused to renew a United Nations-led safe passage scheme for commercial ships.
The Turkish government had been in talks to get six Turkish vessels out but without success so far.
The Kuruoglu 3 is not the first Turkish-owned ship to be damaged in Kherson.
In January 2023, Cayeli Shipping’s 3,900-dwt Tuzla (built 1980) was above the level of the ship’s own bridge by an incoming projectile.
Russia regularly subjects Ukraine’s ports to missile and drone attacks, arguing that they are being used by Ukrainian forces to launch strikes against the Russian-annexed province of Crimea.
Ships still active in the Ukraine grain trade often get caught up in the crossfire.
In November 2023, a pilot was killed in Odesa when a rocket flew into the 91,900-dwt bulker KMAX Ruler (built 2009).
Russian and Ukrainian floating mines in the Black Sea have posed another danger to shipping.
