A drone yesterday struck a Turkish-flagged tanker and set it ablaze in southern Ukraine’s Odesa region, officials said, a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a deal to import US liquefied natural gas through the area.
The MT Orinda was hit during the offloading of liquefied petroleum gas at Izmail port, the Turkish Directorate for Maritime Affairs said.
All 16 crew on board evacuated and no one was hurt, it said.
Photo: Reuters
Russia has used drones, missiles and artillery to repeatedly batter the Odesa region, especially its Black Sea ports, since its full-scale invasion of its neighbor nearly four years ago.
There was no immediate comment from Russia yesterday.
Ukrainian officials did not comment specifically on the tanker, although regional military administration head Oleh Kiper said Russian drones attacked the Odesa region overnight, and damaged energy and port infrastructure in several cities.
The attack sparked multiple fires and damaged an unspecified number of civilian vessels, Kiper said, adding that one person was injured.
Izmail lies on a Black Sea estuary and is one of a string of ports that are vital for Ukrainian imports and exports. With Russia also targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Zelenskiy is trying to secure gas and other energy imports that can help see his country through the approaching winter.
Zelenskiy on Sunday was on an official visit to Greece. Starting in January, US liquefied natural gas is to flow to Odesa via pipelines from the northern Greek port of Alexandroupolis.
In Romania, authorities on Monday ordered the evacuation of people and animals from two villages close to Izmail on the Romanian side of the border, saying the nature of the tanker’s cargo required such precautions.
It was the first-ever evacuation in Romania as a result of the war in Ukraine. The evacuation order was lifted yesterday.
“Following a risk analysis and information received from Ukrainian counterparts, a decision was made to lift the evacuation order for the village of Ceatalchioi,” Romanian emergency services announced in a statement yesterday.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian missiles killed three people and injured 11 others in Balakliya in the northeastern Kharkiv region in an overnight attack. Four girls aged 12, 14, 15 and 17 were among those injured, authorities said.
Russian drones and artillery also killed two people and injured two others in a daylight attack on Nikopol in the central Dnipropetrovsk region on Monday.
Additional reporting by AFP
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