Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned the Russian assaults ‘had no … army objective by any means’.
Russian forces have attacked two Ukrainian ports, damaging three Turkish-owned vessels, together with a ship carrying meals provides, in line 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 whole, however didn’t present extra 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 mentioned the Russian assaults “had no … army objective 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 additionally proceed the battle exactly to destroy regular life in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy mentioned.
“It’s essential that … the world maintains the right ethical compass: who’s dragging out this battle 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 battle machine,” he mentioned.
At the moment, the Russian military carried out a missile strike on our Odesa area, and final night time there was additionally a Russian assault on Odesa’s power infrastructure. At one level we talked in regards to the scenario on this metropolis and the individuals of Odesa with President Trump.
At the moment’s Russian… pic.twitter.com/gIgXUlc4AJ
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 12, 2025
Zelenskyy didn’t identify the vessel, nevertheless it 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 Transport, confirmed it was attacked at about 4pm native time (14:00 GMT). There have been no casualties among the many crew, and injury to the ship was restricted, it added.
An worker of a non-public 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 industrial delivery”.
Ukraine’s three giant Black Sea ports within the Odesa area are a key financial 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 studies of injured Turkish residents.
The ministry mentioned in a press release that the assault “validates our beforehand acknowledged considerations relating to the unfold of the continuing battle within the area to the Black Sea, and its influence on maritime safety and freedom of navigation”.
“We reiterate the necessity for an association whereby, with the intention 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 prompt {that a} restricted ceasefire for power services and ports could possibly be useful for regional safety.
Turkiye, which has the longest Black Sea shoreline at roughly 1,329km (826 miles), has grown more and more 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 important supply of funding for its nearly four-year-old battle. 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.
