Ukraine reported today a Russian drone attacked a Chinese cargo ship in the Black Sea overnight, a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to travel to Beijing to meet Xi Jinping.
AFP writes Kyiv often reports strikes from Russia on civilian vessels near the port of Odesa, a key maritime gateway for Ukrainian agricultural exports.
But the strike today comes a day before Putin’s two-day trip to Beijing, where he and Xi are expected to bolster bilateral ties between the friendly nations.
“UAVs attacked Odesa … and one of the UAVs hit a China-owned ship,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a social media post.
The Russians could not have been uninformed of what vessel was at sea,” he added.
A spokeswoman for Ukraine’s navy told our correspondent that none of the crew, all of whom were Chinese citizens, were harmed and the Chinese-owned vessel continued on its journey.
“The ship was coming in to load. Crew dealt with the ramifications after a nighttime Shahed hit on their own. “Fortunately, no one was hurt and the vessel continued to its port of destination,” stated navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk.
The Ukrainian navy has called the ship KSL Deyang.
It tweeted a shot of part of the top deck charred after what seemed to be a strike.
Russian soldiers assaulted Ukraine with 524 attack drones and 22 missiles, including ballistic and cruise missiles, overnight, Zelensky claimed.
China has repeatedly called for negotiations to halt the violence. It has never condemned Russia for sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and it positions itself as a neutral party.
In 2022, an agreement was struck between Turkey and the United Nations with Kyiv and Moscow to allow Ukrainian grain shipments from the Black Sea, a deal that the Kremlin cancelled around a year later.
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