Ukraine accuses Russia of bombing Turkish ship in Odesa

A large fire broke out on a Turkish car ferry anchored at the Ukrainian port city of Odesa after it was hit in a strike on Friday.

The company that operates the Cenk T confirmed the attack occurred at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT) shortly after it docked at the Chornomorsk port.

Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelensky has blamed the strike on Russia, which has not commented.

The attack came hours after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a limited ceasefire for energy facilities and ports could be beneficial. Russia has resisted all calls for a ceasefire.

Moscow has threatened to cut “Ukraine off from the sea” in response to Kyiv’s maritime drone attacks on Russia’s “shadow fleet” tankers thought to be used to export oil – and a main source for funding the ongoing war.

Cenk Denizcilik, the company that owns the cargo ship that operates on the Karasu-Odesa route across the Black Sea, said on Friday that it had been carrying “essential food supplies” when it was hit shortly after anchoring at the Ukrainian port city.

Emergency response measures were immediately activated with the vessel’s crew, port fire brigade and assisting tugboats after a fire broke out on the forward section of the ship, the company’s statement added.

“At this stage, there are no reports of casualties or injuries among the crew,” it said.

Video footage of the attack’s aftermath, which was shared on Zelensky’s Telegram account, shows crews attempting to extinguish a large blaze on the vessel.

While condemning a series of missile attacks that Russia had carried out on the Odesa region the night before, the Ukrainian leader blamed Moscow for targeting the civilian Turkish ship, saying it “could not have any military meaning”.

Turkey’s foreign ministry said an agreement should be reached that would guarantee “the security of shipping and suspending attacks against energy and port infrastructure in order to prevent escalation in the Black Sea”.

“We once again underline the importance of urgently ending the war between Russia and Ukraine,” the ministry said.

Turkey has sought to maintain relations with the two warring countries since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

It also controls the Bosphorus Strait, which is a key passage for transporting Ukrainian grain and Russian oil out to the Mediterranean.