Ukrainian drones attacked cargo vessel that sank, killing one, says Russia-installed official
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Rescued members of a dry cargo ship, which sank in the Sea of Azov, being assisted on the coast of the Russian-controlled part of the Kherson region in Ukraine.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MOSCOW – A cargo ship carrying wheat sank in the Sea of Azov after coming under attack from Ukrainian drones, a Russia-installed official said on April 5, leaving one person dead and two missing.
Mr Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-installed leader of the Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine’s Kherson region, said the attack occurred on April 3, but crew members were unable to report what had happened to them until April 5.
“It became known that the reason for the sinking of the Volgo-Balt in the Sea of Azov was a terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime,” Mr Saldo wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
He said the crew abandoned ship and were able to reach shore only on April 5 near the village of Strilkove in the Kherson region.
He also said an aide to the captain had died and two people were unaccounted for, adding that an investigation into the incident was under way. The captain was recovering in a hospital.
“This is, unfortunately, not the first instance of Ukraine attacking a merchant ship in neutral waters. There will be a response to this crime,” Mr Saldo said.
In an earlier post, he said nine crew members had been found alive on the shore – all Russian nationals.
Kherson is one of four Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia in 2022, more than six months after Moscow’s invasion. Russian forces hold a little more than 70 per cent of the two regions, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, in the south. REUTERS
