KYIV, Ukraine — A drone struck a Turkish-flagged tanker and set it ablaze on Monday in southern Ukraine’s Odesa area, officers mentioned, a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a deal to import U.S. liquefied pure fuel by way of the world.
The MT Orinda was hit through the offloading of liquefied petroleum fuel at Izmail port, Turkey’s Directorate for Maritime Affairs mentioned. All 16 crew on board evacuated and nobody was harm, it mentioned.
Russia has used drones, missiles and artillery to repeatedly batter the Odesa area, particularly its Black Sea ports, since its full-scale invasion of its neighbor almost 4 years in the past. There was no quick Russia remark Monday.
Ukrainian officers didn’t remark particularly on the tanker, though regional navy administration head Oleh Kiper mentioned Russian drones attacked the Odesa area in a single day and broken vitality and port infrastructure in a number of cities.
The assault sparked a number of fires and broken an unspecified variety of civilian vessels, Kiper mentioned, including that one particular person was injured.
Izmail lies on a Black Sea estuary and is one among a string of ports which might be very important for Ukrainian imports and exports. With Russia additionally concentrating on Ukraine’s vitality infrastructure, Zelenskyy is making an attempt to make sure fuel and different vitality imports that may assist see his nation by way of the approaching winter.
Zelenskyy on Sunday was on an official go to to Greece. The U.S. liquefied pure fuel will circulate to Odesa by way of pipelines from the northern Greek port of Alexandroupolis beginning in January.
Authorities in Romania, in the meantime, ordered the evacuation of individuals and animals from two villages near Izmail on the Romanian aspect of the border, saying the character of the tanker’s cargo required such precautions.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian missiles killed three folks and injured 11 others in Balakliya within the northeastern Kharkiv area in an in a single day assault. 4 ladies aged 12, 14, 15 and 17 had been amongst these injured, authorities mentioned.
Russian drones and artillery additionally killed two folks and injured two others in a daylight assault on Nikopol within the central Dnipropetrovsk area on Monday. The assault hit high-rise house blocks, shops and a hair salon, mentioned the regional head of the navy administration, Vladyslav Haivanenko.
The United Nations says Russian strikes have killed hundreds of Ukrainian civilians through the battle.
Russia fired two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 128 strike and decoy drones throughout the nation through the night time, Ukraine’s air drive mentioned.
Russian air defenses shot down 36 Ukrainian drones in a single day, Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned, as Ukraine tries to hit again at Russia’s energy grid.
A Ukrainian drone assault broken an electrical energy substation in Russia’s Ulyanovsk area, Gov. Aleksey Russkikh wrote on social media, including that no casualties had been reported and that native energy provides had been working usually.
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Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Stephen McGrath in Leamington Spa, England, contributed.
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Comply with AP’s protection of the battle in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
