Night strike on a civilian vessel in the Black Sea waters
On the night of 23 September 2026, Russian military forces struck a cargo ship flying the flag of Antigua and Barbuda in the Black Sea. This was reported by the press service of the Ukrainian Administration of Marine Ports (AMP) and in the Telegram channel of Oleksandr Prutyakov, head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration. According to Ukrainian authorities, the attack caused a fire on board, and the captain — a Ukrainian citizen — was killed. The remaining crew members were evacuated by the Ukrainian Navy, and the fire was extinguished.
“Deliberate terror against civilian shipping”
AMP classified the incident as “yet another terrorist act by the Russian Federation against civilian shipping,” emphasizing that this time the Russian attack claimed the life of a Ukrainian seafarer. The agency stated that “the world must see and assess Russia’s deliberate terror against civilian shipping and against the people who keep the sea routes working.” In doing so, the Ukrainian side once again records the systematic nature of the strikes on civilian vessels, rather than an isolated incident.
Odesa region: strikes on port and warehouse infrastructure
According to Oleksandr Prutyakov, in addition to the cargo ship, Russian forces also attacked port and civilian infrastructure in the Odesa region that same night. In particular, warehouse facilities intended for storing medicines, household goods, and food products were hit twice in a row. Firefighting operations at the sites lasted several hours. Photos of the aftermath of the attack on Odesa’s port infrastructure were published in the regional administration’s channel.
Series of attacks: a ship under the flag of Tanzania and a previously sunk foreign vessel
The 23 September incident was not the first in recent weeks. On 17 September 2026, a Russian drone attacked a civilian ship flying the flag of Tanzania that was heading to one of Ukraine’s ports. The strike killed the captain and injured three other crew members. Earlier, a foreign civilian vessel sank in the Black Sea near Odesa after a Russian missile strike: ten people were killed. Taken together, these events show a sustained trend of escalating strikes on civilian maritime transport.
Statistics: 1,054 port infrastructure facilities and 232 civilian vessels
The Ukrainian delegation at the OSCE Forum on Security Cooperation presented summary data on the impact of the war on maritime logistics. According to it, over four and a half years of the full-scale conflict, Russian forces have destroyed 1,054 Ukrainian port infrastructure facilities and struck 232 civilian vessels. Kyiv emphasizes that such actions pose a direct threat to global food security, as the Black Sea remains a key arterial corridor for the export of grain and other products.
