Russian strikes on merchant ships kill 3, Ukraine says

Russian attacks on a merchant ship in southern Ukraine and two others in the Black Sea have killed three people, including a ship’s captain, a senior Ukrainian official said.

“In the evening, the enemy launched a new attack on port infrastructure in the Odesa region. During the attack, an enemy drone struck a civilian ship flying the flag of the Marshall Islands,” said the head of the region’s military administration, Oleh Kiper.

“A fire broke out on board. Unfortunately, two people were killed,” he said on Telegram on Tuesday.

Earlier, Kiper said two merchant ships, Tanzanian- and Liberian-flagged and sailing in the Black Sea, had also been hit.