Key facts
- Russian drones struck two foreign-flagged civilian ships in the Black Sea, killing one and injuring five.
- The ships were flying the flags of Saint Kitts and Nevis and Panama.
- The attacks occurred during a wider wave of Russian drone and bomb attacks across Ukraine.
- Ukraine's air defenses reportedly intercepted 79 out of 90 Russian drones launched overnight.
- Across Ukraine, 11 people were killed and 63 injured in total from the strikes.
Russian drones struck two foreign-flagged civilian ships in the Black Sea on Thursday night, Ukrainian authorities reported, resulting in one fatality and five injuries. The vessels were flying the flags of Saint Kitts and Nevis and Panama.
Panama's Maritime Authority confirmed that one crew member was killed and two others injured in a drone attack on a Panamanian-flagged ship, with one injured sailor in serious condition. The ship was able to continue its course.
Oleksii Kuleba, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration, condemned the attacks as an assault on freedom of navigation, international trade, and global food security.
The attacks occurred as part of a broader wave of overnight Russian assaults across Ukraine. In the southern Odesa region, strikes led to a fire at a truck parking lot, killing one person and injuring four others. Additionally, four people were injured in Kherson when a Russian drone hit a minibus. In Kharkiv, a guided bomb attack injured nine people and damaged more than 40 homes.
Ukraine's air force reported that local air defenses successfully shot down 79 out of 90 Russian drones launched from Thursday evening into Friday morning. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed a significant Ukrainian strike on a Moscow oil refinery earlier on Thursday, describing it as a "fully justified response" to Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and communities.