May 29 (Reuters) – Russian drones attacked three foreign-flagged merchant vessels late on Thursday and overnight as they sailed along Ukraine’s maritime export corridor in the Black Sea, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on Friday.
The strikes caused fires on the vessels, but they were extinguished by the crews, Kuleba said on Telegram.
Ukraine’s seaports authority said the vessels were under the flags of Vanuatu, the Comoros and Panama.
The Ukrainian navy earlier reported a strike on the Ant, which it said was a Turkey-owned cargo ship sailing under the Vanuatu flag. It said the ship was heading to Turkey from one of the ports in Odesa region.
The strike caused a fire and evacuation of two injured crew, it said, adding that the vessel was laden with cargo at the time.
Russia has repeatedly targeted maritime export routes during the more than four years since its invasion of Ukraine, striking ports vital to foreign trade and the wartime economy.
(Reporting by Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo and Anna Pruchnicka in GdanskEditing by Clarence Fernandez and David Goodman)
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