Russian attack on corn ship off Ukraine’s Odesa kills 10

ODESA, Ukraine – A Russian missile strike on a ship carrying corn near Ukraine’s southern port of Odesa killed 10 people, Ukrainian officials said on July 20, in the deadliest attack in a weeks-long flare-up of violence in the Black Sea.

Russia hit the Golden Leo – a Guinea-Bissau-flagged ship manned by a crew from India and Syria – with three cruise missiles, causing a fire on July 19, Ukraine’s navy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

A Reuters witness in Odesa saw smoke billowing from a vessel off the coast on July 19, which Reuters confirmed was the Golden Leo.

A separate Russian attack on Odesa, Ukraine’s largest seaport, killed three people and wounded three others on July 20, said Serhiy Lysak, head of the city’s military administration.

He added that infrastructure facilities came under attack but gave no further details.

A search-and-rescue operation lasted all night, Ukraine’s seaport authority said, adding that nine crew members and one of its maritime pilots were killed.

Eight of the vessel’s 17 crew members were rescued, it added.

The Golden Leo is owned by Mumbai-based Ocean Grace Shipping, according to LSEG data.

Its manager, Friends Shipping Co, did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.

There was no immediate public comment from Moscow on the incident.

The Black Sea was a flashpoint in the Ukraine war in the months following Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

But under a deal meant to ease global price shocks and allow both countries to ship grain, shipping had largely resumed.

Moscow and Kyiv, however, are now stepping up attacks in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov and targeting key revenue sources.

Ukrainian forces have hit Russian energy infrastructure, including oil tankers, while Russia is intensifying its attacks on Ukraine’s deepwater ports and cargo vessels.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on July 20 that its forces hit fuel reservoirs at the port of Odesa overnight, Interfax reported.

Russian strikes have killed 28 people in the Odesa region so far in July, its governor said on July 20.

Both Russia and Ukraine are major grain exporters, and the renewed violence along this route has raised concerns about supply.

Ukraine, which in recent seasons accounted for about 6 per cent of global wheat exports and about 11 per cent of global corn exports, has lost about a third of its capacity to export grain via its Black Sea ports due to Russian missile and drone attacks, traders and analysts have said.

The Ukrainian attacks have forced Russia, the world’s top grain exporter, to limit shipping in the Sea of Azov – a route that handles about a quarter of its grain exports, sources have told Reuters. REUTERS