Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated the Russian assaults ‘had no … navy function by any means’.
Russian forces have attacked two Ukrainian ports, damaging three Turkish-owned vessels, together with a ship carrying meals provides, in accordance with Ukrainian officers and a shipowner.
Friday’s assaults by Russian forces focused Chornomorsk and Odesa ports in Ukraine’s southwestern Odesa area on the Black Sea. A Ukrainian navy spokesperson informed the Reuters information company that three Turkish-owned vessels have been broken in complete, however didn’t present further particulars.
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Posting video footage on social media of firefighters tackling a blaze on board what he described as a “civilian vessel” in Chornomorsk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated the Russian assaults “had no … navy function by any means”.
“This proves as soon as once more that Russians not solely fail to take the present alternative for diplomacy critically sufficient, but in addition proceed the conflict exactly to destroy regular life in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy stated.
“It’s essential that … the world maintains the correct ethical compass: who’s dragging out this conflict and who’s working to finish it with peace, who’s utilizing ballistic missiles in opposition to civilian life, and who’s hanging the targets that affect the functioning of Russia’s conflict machine,” he stated.
At this time, the Russian military carried out a missile strike on our Odesa area, and final evening there was additionally a Russian assault on Odesa’s power infrastructure. At one level we talked concerning the scenario on this metropolis and the folks of Odesa with President Trump.
At this time’s Russian… pic.twitter.com/gIgXUlc4AJ
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 12, 2025
Zelenskyy didn’t identify the vessel, but it surely was recognized because the Panama-flagged and Turkish-owned Cenk T by Reuters, which matched cranes and buildings to satellite tv for pc imagery of Chornomorsk port.
The ship’s homeowners, Cenk Delivery, confirmed it was attacked at about 4pm native time (14:00 GMT). There have been no casualties among the many crew, and harm to the ship was restricted, it added.
An worker of a personal firm was additionally injured in a separate assault on Odesa port, the place a cargo loader was additionally broken, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba confirmed.
He added that Russia had used drones and ballistic missiles within the port strikes, which have been “aimed toward civilian logistics and business delivery”.
Ukraine’s three massive Black Sea ports within the Odesa area are a key economic artery for Kyiv.
Late on Friday, Turkiye’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs confirmed the vessel had been attacked in Chornomorsk port. It added that there have been no stories of injured Turkish residents.
The ministry stated in an announcement that the assault “validates our beforehand acknowledged considerations relating to the unfold of the continued conflict within the area to the Black Sea, and its affect on maritime safety and freedom of navigation”.
“We reiterate the necessity for an association whereby, to be able to forestall escalation within the Black Sea, assaults concentrating on navigational security in addition to the events’ power and port infrastructure are suspended,” it added.
Hours earlier, in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkmenistan’s capital of Ashgabat, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan referred to as for calm within the Black Sea and steered {that a} restricted ceasefire for power services and ports might be useful for regional safety.
Turkiye, which has the longest Black Sea shoreline at roughly 1,329km (826 miles), has grown increasingly alarmed on the escalating assaults in its again yard and has supplied to mediate between Kyiv and Moscow.
The assaults come simply days after Putin promised retaliation and threatened to chop “Ukraine off from the ocean” for Kyiv’s maritime drone assaults on Moscow’s “shadow fleet” – unmarked tankers thought for use to bypass oil sanctions – within the Black Sea.
Kyiv says the tankers are Moscow’s essential supply of funding for its nearly four-year-old conflict. It has additionally tried to squeeze Russian revenues by increasing assaults to the Caspian Sea, the place it struck a significant oil rig this week.
