Tanzanian ship attacked by Russian forces in the black sea

There are reports that Russia has been attacking vessels on Black Sea and that among the recent victims of the blasts is a Tanzanian ship.

According to the New Voice of Ukraine, Moscow carried out targeted strikes on civilian cargo ships sailing through the Black Sea’s shipping corridor.

The attacked ships include one vessel which was sailing under the flag of Tanzania and another flying Liberian colors on Tuesday, July 14.

The Black Sea is a significant and nearly landlocked body of brackish water, covering over 400,000 square kilometers, situated on the southern edge of the Eurasian landmass.

The attacks ended up killing one person and injuring three, according to the Odesa Oblast Military Administration (OOMA) head, Oleh Kiper who reported the incidents.

Kiper said Russian forces also carried out another strike on port infrastructure in Odesa Oblast that evening.

An enemy drone struck a civilian vessel flying the flag of the Marshall Islands, sparking a fire on board. Two people were killed in that strike.

Kiper earlier said the captain of one of the ships was killed in the attack.

The vessel’s crew of 11 was evacuated to shore, with three of them injured.

“Every one of these cynical enemy strikes is a war crime against civilians, civilian shipping and global food security,” Kiper said.

Russia justified the strikes on the civilian ships by claiming it had targeted “vessels being used in the interests of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

Kiper later reported that emergency crews had extinguished a fire at an industrial facility that Russia had also struck. The attack ignited a storage tank containing sunflower oil; rescuers managed to prevent the fire from spreading further.

On July 13, Russia struck a civilian merchant ship flying the flag of Togo in Odesa Oblast, killing five crew members and injuring 12.

The independent Russian outlet Agentstvo reported that Russia has intensified strikes on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports in response to Ukrainian strikes on shadow fleet tankers in the Sea of Azov, and has reported daily strikes on Ukrainian ships since July 12.

Previously, in another incident, Russia targeted two dry bulk cargo ships in the Black Sea with strike drones as the vessels were sailing through Ukraine’s maritime “grain corridor,” Odesa governor Oleh Kiper said on June 10.

Kiper said the ships were sailing under the flags of Barbados and Panama.

He said waves of strikes also hit southern parts of Odesa Oblast, damaging civilian sites and energy infrastructure.

“Fortunately, there are no casualties from these attacks,” Kiper wrote in a Telegram post.

Earlier, Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said Russian forces on the night of May 17–18 attacked a Chinese merchant vessel in Ukrainian territorial waters with a Shahed loitering munition. Pletenchuk called the incident “a terrible mistake” and asked whether it was intentional.