Ukrainian officials said Russian drone attacks hit three foreign-flagged merchant vessels late on Thursday and into the overnight hours as the ships moved through Ukraine's maritime export corridor in the Black Sea.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba reported the strikes on Friday, saying the attacks ignited fires aboard the vessels but that the crews were able to extinguish the blazes. Kuleba conveyed his account on Telegram.
Ukraine's seaports authority provided further detail on the national registry of the vessels, stating the ships were sailing under the flags of Vanuatu, the Comoros and Panama.
Earlier, the Ukrainian navy issued a report identifying one of the struck vessels as the Ant. The navy said the Ant is a Turkey-owned cargo ship registered under the Vanuatu flag and that it had been en route to Turkey from a port in the Odesa region when it was hit.
The navy said the strike on the Ant caused a fire that prompted the evacuation of two crew members who were injured. The statement noted that the vessel was carrying cargo at the time of the incident.
The incidents sit within a broader pattern of attacks on maritime routes since the start of the conflict. Ukrainian officials said Russia has repeatedly targeted maritime export corridors during the more than four years since its invasion of Ukraine, including strikes on ports that are important for foreign trade and the wartime economy.
The available information does not indicate further details about the other two vessels beyond their flag registrations, nor does it specify the nature or value of the cargo aboard the Ant beyond confirming it was laden with cargo. Officials also have not provided additional operational details about the strikes beyond the accounts relayed by Kuleba and the Ukrainian navy.
Measures taken by the crews to extinguish the fires and the reported evacuations underscore the immediate human and operational impacts on merchant shipping in the corridor. Beyond these immediate effects, authorities have continued to highlight the vulnerability of maritime export routes and port facilities to aerial strikes amid the ongoing conflict.