Russian attacks on a merchant ship in southern Ukraine and two others in the Black Sea on Tuesday 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.
Earlier, Kiper said two merchant ships, Tanzanian- and Liberian-flagged and sailing in the Black Sea, had also been hit. ‘As a result… the captain of one of the ships was killed,’ he said, adding that the remaining crew of 11 had been evacuated, of whom three were wounded.
Kiper said the ships targeted in the Black Sea were sailing along corridors designated for the export of Ukrainian grain. ‘Each of these cynical enemy strikes constitutes a war crime against peaceful populations, civilian shipping, and global food security,’ he said.
The Russian army regularly targets Ukrainian port infrastructure, particularly in the Odesa region. Ukrainian forces have meanwhile stepped up attacks on ships in the Sea of Azov, which serves as an important conduit for Russian agricultural products as well as for supplying annexed Crimea.
The Russian military regularly targets Ukrainian port infrastructure, particularly in the Odessa region. In response, Ukraine has recently intensified its attacks on Russia, specifically targeting oil infrastructure, in an attempt to cripple Moscow’s ability to finance its war effort.
EU countries were scrambling on Tuesday to agree a new round of sanctions on Russia, on the eve of a deadline that could weaken a key measure to tamp down Moscow’s oil revenues.
Ambassadors from 27 member states were due to hold last-ditch talks in Brussels to thrash out a deal on the new package after a raft of objections held up an accord.
If no agreement is found by Wednesday then the EU could be forced to hike its price cap aimed at curbing the amount Russia can make from its global oil exports. Under current regulations the level of the cap should shoot up from US$44 to tally more closely with international oil prices after a surge due to the Middle East war.
Brussels had wanted to change those rules in the new sanctions package to maintain the current level for several more months so the Kremlin cannot take advantage of the leap in prices.
But the new round of sanctions – the 21st the EU wants to impose on Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine – has faced a rocky ride since it was proposed last month.
Various countries have objected to different parts and sought to water them down. Bulgaria resisted placing Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill on the blacklist.
Diplomats said Germany objected to a ban on imports of Alaskan Pollock – a fish widely used in children’s meals – from Russia. There was also a push to tone down a plan to impose a sweeping visa ban on any Russians who took part in the war in Ukraine.
Diplomats say that with other sticking points still remaining to be ironed out, it was unclear if a deal could be struck before the oil price deadline.
EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said countries were “quite close” to a deal after a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers Monday. “Our aim is to have an agreement. If we don’t have an agreement, then we start to work on Plan B,” she said.
Failure to reach an agreement could deal a blow to EU at a time Kyiv appears to be turning the tide in the war. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen is set to visit Kyiv Wednesday for talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. (AFP)
