A Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian port of Odesa hit a Liberian-flagged freighter, killing a port worker and wounding another, as well as three citizens of the Philippines, crew members on the ship, Ukraine’s armed forces said Thursday.
The report did not give the name of the ship or the country of its owners, but Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the ship was to carry iron ore to China. The extent of the damage was not immediately reported.
The Odesa port and others in the region are economically vital to Ukraine as its outlets to the Black Sea, from which ships can head for world markets.
Odesa port facilities have come under Russian attack 21 times since Russia in August declined to renew a deal allowing Ukraine to safely export grain via the Black Sea, Kubrakov said
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in October that a new Black Sea export corridor had allowed some 50 ships to set sail.
