Warning shot fired by Russian warship at cargo ship in Black Sea

author: FutureCar Staff    

A Russian warship, the Vasily Bykov, has fired warning shots and boarded a Palau-flagged cargo ship, the Sukru Okan, in the Black Sea, according to Russia's Defense Ministry. The ministry stated that the warning shots were fired after the dry cargo ship failed to respond to a request to stop for an inspection on Sunday. In order to forcibly stop the vessel, warning fire was opened from automatic weapons. Russian soldiers then boarded the ship with the assistance of a Ka-29 helicopter.

Once the inspection group had completed their work on board, the Sukru Okan continued on its way to the port of Izmail. However, while the ministry claimed that the cargo ship was heading towards the Ukrainian port of Izmail, shipping data from Refinitiv showed that the vessel's destination was listed as the Romanian port of Sulina, which is close to Izmail.

This incident marks the first time that Russia has fired on a merchant ship outside of Ukraine since withdrawing from a UN-brokered grain deal last month. Following the withdrawal, Russia declared that it considered all ships heading to Ukrainian waters to potentially be carrying weapons. In response, Ukraine issued a similar threat to ships approaching Russian or Russian-held Ukrainian ports. Ukraine also launched attacks on a Russian oil tanker and a warship at its Novorossiysk naval base, which is located next to a major grain and oil port.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, condemned the incident as a "clear violation of international law of the sea, an act of piracy, and a crime against civilian vessels of a third country in the waters of other states." On the other hand, Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine's southern military command, emphasized that other official sources had not confirmed the Russian statement. She suggested that this statement could be a signal to all civilian vessels in the Black Sea and called for transportation and navigation in the region to be conducted under international guarantees. Humeniuk also noted that Russia was attempting to assert its right to stop a ship or deploy aircraft in the Black Sea without facing any consequences.

FutureCar Staff