Ukraine has reported striking five ships operating in the Sea of Azov and coastal areas under Russian occupation.
Officials claim the vessels were being used to move stolen Ukrainian grain, along with fuel and military supplies.
he reported operation comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to address a major economic forum in St. Petersburg, following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent proposal for direct talks on ending the conflict.
Ukraine confirmed that one of its naval drones exploded off Romania’s coast on Friday, with no casualties reported.
President Zelensky said Russians were becoming increasingly frustrated by drone attacks, fuel shortages, and rising prices caused by the prolonged war.
Ukraine says its strikes on Russian military and energy facilities are intended to reduce Russia’s war-fighting capacity.
The day after Kyiv launched a drone attack on the city’s outskirts, Putin arrived in St. Petersburg.
Five Azerbaijani nationals were murdered in strikes on two of the ships in the Sea of Azov, according to the country’s foreign ministry.
It stated that the ships did not belong to Azerbaijan but did not identify the perpetrators of the attacks.
Five “illegally loitering vessels” were hit overnight in the ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk as well as in the coastal waters of what Ukraine refers to as the “temporarily occupied territories”—areas of the country that Russia currently controls—according to a statement made earlier by Robert Brovdi, the drone commander for Ukraine.
He claimed that the five ships, which included tankers and cargo ships, had their radars switched off and their names painted over “with the aim of quietly stealing Ukrainian grain” and “transferring military cargo and fuel.” Two of the ships were given the names Nastra and Circon by the Azeri foreign ministry.
There were no deaths mentioned by Brovdi. Local officials in Ukraine report that over 70 people have been hurt and at least 13 people have died in the last day.
These include a 35-year-old lady who was killed in a drone strike on a petrol station in Kherson, according to local officials, and four individuals who perished after Russian drones attacked a dairy facility outside of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, according to the regional head.
On Friday, a naval drone detonated at Constanta, a port on the Black Sea in Romania.
The defence ministry said the drone exploded near an oil terminal after self-detonating, with no casualties reported.
However, officials noted that the blast caused significant damage to a ship and nearby warehouses. Adrian Teodor Picoiu, Constanța’s top official, told G4Media that Ukrainian sources said the drone was one of five involved in the operation, while another exploded on Ukrainian territory.
Later, Ukraine acknowledged that one of its naval drones had been engaged, claiming Russian electronic interference had caused it to veer off course. Moscow hasn’t responded yet.
Despite the fact that the other three drones were missing, authorities declared that there was no further danger. The drones’ location in Romanian seas has not yet been explained.
After a stray mine was found on a beach close to the village of Vama Veche, which is located more than 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Constanta, Romanian President Nicusor Dan wrote on X that it was the second “significant security incident this week”.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an open letter addressed to Vladimir Putin, argued that waiting for the war in Europe to regain the full attention of the United States would be the wrong approach. He maintained that a lasting peace could only emerge through direct engagement between the two sides.
He also proposed a complete ceasefire during negotiations on Thursday, an idea Putin dismissed earlier in the day.
The letter was acknowledged by the Kremlin. The Russian state newspaper Izvestia was informed by spokesman Dmitry Peskov that Putin would probably make a statement on the matter on Friday.
In the past, the Russian president has stated that achieving peace will require making concessions.
He has long maintained that Ukraine should abandon its attempts to join NATO and leave the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, which are primarily occupied by Russia.
Ukraine has maintained its opposition to any territorial concessions, stating that such a step would encourage further acts of aggression by Russia. Officials cite the 2022 invasion as evidence, noting that it followed Russia’s annexation of Crimea eight years earlier.
President Zelensky’s appeal for a meeting has been endorsed by a number of international actors, including the European Union, France, and the United States.
Source: BBC News