Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations blamed Russia for attacks on two ships in the Black Sea on Friday.
Speaking at an emergency meeting of the General Assembly in New York on Monday, Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said Russia had violated international law in striking the 2,200-dwt Millennial Spirit (built 1974) and the 85,065-dwt Namura Queen (built 2020), which he only identified by their flags.
“In the Black Sea, Russian warships deliberately attacked two civil vessels under the flags of Panama and Moldova approaching Ukraine,” Kyslytsya said.
“This constitutes a flagrant violation of the international law of the sea. Incredibly, one of the vessels had a Russian crew. Still, it was attacked by the Russians.”
The Moldovan Naval Agency confirmed to TradeWinds last week that the bunker tanker Millennial Spirit was struck with a missile and that two of its crew members were seriously injured.
The agency said the ship was operated by a Ukrainian company, but that its entire crew of 10 were Russians and that Ukrainian authorities responded to rescue.
The kamsarmax Namura Queen was hit by a missile on its aft side at some point after noon (1100 GMT) local time.
The ship’s owner, Japan’s Nissen Kaiun, only said it was “very busy right now” when contacted by TradeWinds.
It is unclear if any of the crew were hurt in the attack.
On Saturday, Russia reportedly closed the northwestern portion of the Black Sea, near where both ships were attacked, to commercial shipping, warning that any ships in the region would be considered a terrorist threat.
The attacks on the Millennial Spirit and the Namura Queen follow the shelling of the 61,100-dwt Yasa Jupiter (built 2019) on Thursday.
The blast blew out the ship’s windows, but did not injure any crew members. The ship is controlled by Yasa Shipping and was understood to be under charter to Cargill and had just unloaded a cargo at Odessa.
TradeWinds reporters across the globe are covering the shipping implications on the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
There have been reports of attacks in the Sea of Azov, as well, with Ukraine accusing Russia of seizing two bulkers there over the weekend while Russian media reported Ukraine attacked two of its ships last Thursday.
Security sources told TradeWinds the reports from Thursday, which said the ships were hit with missiles, were likely false.
