Ukraine and Russia have dramatically intensified attacks against civilian cargo ships in the Black Sea since Saturday, ending a tacit agreement between the two countries that technically neutral vessels would not be systematically targeted with anti-ship attacks, news reports on Tuesday said.Ukraine’s escalation in the form of drone swarms hit three oil tankers in two days, on Sunday and Monday, while the vessels were loading at a Russian oil terminal built for the export of third-party crude pumped from Kazakhstan. Ukrainian military and Kazakh official sources confirmed the attacks.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.The Russian escalation in the form of a salvo of anti-ship cruise missiles on Sunday saw a bulk cargo ship loaded with grain in the Ukrainian port of Odesa attacked within sight of shore and the worst casualties suffered by a civilian ship crew of the entire war, among them 10 dead. Ukrainian naval sources and commercial maritime media in Ukraine and Turkey confirmed the attack took place and caused damage and casualties.The most recent attack, a Monday air raid by long-range drones swooping in on Russia’s KTK Marine Terminal 26 km (16 miles) north of Novorossiysk, hit and set afire the crude oil tanker Nelsa as it was loading product.The Cameroon-flagged tanker had, according to industry reports, been taking Kazakhstan-produced crude aboard when it was hit in the superstructure between the bridge and boiler rooms. Firefighters fought a blaze aboard the ship for most of the day , and 22 of the 24 crew aboard were evacuated, with the Master and Chief Mate reportedly remaining at their posts.
Black Sea Naval War Hots Up as Russia, Ukraine Trade Fiery Attacks vs Civilian Ships
It used to be that Russia’s and Ukraine’s military decision-makers mostly left civilian ships alone and at least didn’t go out of their way to attack them. That changed over the weekend.
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