A Turkish car ferry docked in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa was hit by a strike on Friday, causing a major fire.
The company that operates Cenk T confirmed that the attack occurred shortly after docking in the Chornomorsk port at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russia for the strike, but Russia did not comment.
The attack came hours after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a limited ceasefire on energy facilities and ports could be beneficial. Russia rejected all calls for a ceasefire.
Moscow has threatened to “cut Ukraine off at sea” in response to Kiev’s maritime drone attacks on Russian “shadow fleet” tankers, believed to be a major source of funding for the ongoing war and used to export oil.
Cenk Denizsilik, the company that owns the cargo ship that plies the Karasu-Odessa route across the Black Sea, said Friday that the vessel was carrying “essential food supplies” when it was attacked shortly after docking in the Ukrainian port city.
The company added in a statement that it immediately took emergency response action with the ship’s crew, port fire brigade and support tugboats after the fire broke out in the forward part of the vessel.
“At this stage there have been no reports of any casualties or injuries among the crew,” it said.
Video of the aftermath of the attack shared on Zelensky’s Telegram account shows crew members attempting to extinguish a large fire that broke out on the ship.
The Ukrainian leader condemned a series of missile attacks carried out by Russia in the Odessa region the night before, but also criticized Moscow for targeting Turkish civilian ships, saying they “cannot have any military significance.”
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said an agreement must be reached to ensure “the safety of shipping and a halt to attacks on energy and port infrastructure to prevent escalation in the Black Sea.”
“We reiterate the importance of urgently ending the war between Russia and Ukraine,” the Pentagon said.
Turkey has been trying to maintain ties with the two warring countries since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
It also controls the Bosphorus Strait, a key route for transporting Ukrainian grain and Russian oil to the Mediterranean.
Russia launched a second airstrike on Odessa late in the evening, damaging port infrastructure, according to the regional administrative head.
“(This) highlights the deliberate nature of the enemy’s attacks on civilian infrastructure in the region,” Oleg Kiper wrote in a Telegram post.
Friday’s strike left thousands of households in Odessa without electricity.
It comes as US President Donald Trump has grown frustrated with his administration’s slow progress in striking a deal to end the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Despite Washington’s recent diplomatic push, Kiev and Moscow have rejected key parts of the Trump administration’s proposal.
Ukraine is adamant it needs security guarantees from the United States and Europe before agreeing to end the war, while Russia continues to demand territorial concessions that Kiev has rejected.
Russia has been making a slow ascent on the ground recently.
But claims of controlling key hubs such as the key city of Pokrovsk, a strategic point on major road and rail arteries in the eastern Donetsk region, are rejected by Ukraine.
And on Friday, President Zelenskyy posted a video showing himself in Kupyansk looking defiant. Moscow claimed to have captured the video last month.
