Drone strikes Turkish tanker in Ukraine’s Odesa, where US natural gas will go
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A drone hit a Turkish-flagged tanker in southern Ukraine on Monday, setting it on fire. Odessa Officials say the region is a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed an agreement Importing US liquefied natural gas from the region.
Turkish Maritime Directorate said MT Orinda was hit while unloading liquefied petroleum gas from Izmail port. It was stated that all 16 crew members on the ship were evacuated and no one was injured.
Russia has used drones, missiles and artillery to repeatedly strike the Odessa region, especially its Black Sea ports. full-scale invasion of its neighbor almost four years ago. There was no immediate comment from Russia on Monday.
While Ukrainian officials did not make a specific comment about the tanker, the head of the regional military administration, Oleh Kiper, said that Russian drones attacked the Odessa region overnight and damaged energy and port infrastructure in many cities.
Kiper stated that the attack caused many fires and damaged an unspecified number of civilian ships, adding that one person was injured.
Izmail is located on a Black Sea estuary and is one of a number of ports vital for Ukraine’s imports and exports. Russia is also targeted Energy infrastructure of UkraineZelenskyy is trying to secure imports of gas and other energy that could help his country get through the upcoming winter.
Zelenskyy was on an official visit to Greece on Sunday. US liquefied natural gas will flow to Odessa via pipelines from the port of Alexandroupoli in northern Greece, starting in January.
Meanwhile, authorities in Romania ordered the evacuation of people and animals in two villages close to Izmail on the Romanian side of the border, saying that the nature of the tanker’s cargo required such measures.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian missiles killed three people and injured 11 in an overnight attack in Balakliya in the northeastern Kharkiv region. Authorities said four girls, ages 12, 14, 15 and 17, were among those injured.
Russian drones and artillery also killed two people and injured two others in a daytime attack on Nikopol in the central Dnipropetrovsk region on Monday. The regional head of the military administration, Vladyslav Animalenko, said the attack targeted high-rise apartment blocks, shops and a hairdressing salon.
The United Nations says Russian attacks during the war killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 128 attack and decoy drones across the country overnight.
Russian air defenses shot down 36 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said, as Ukraine sought to retaliate against Russia’s power grid.
Governor Aleksey Russkikh wrote on social media that a Ukrainian drone strike damaged an electricity substation in Russia’s Ulyanovsk region, adding that no casualties were reported and local power supplies were operating normally.
___
Suzan Fraser from Ankara, Türkiye and Stephen McGrath from Leamington Spa, England contributed.
___
You can follow AP’s news about the war in Ukraine at: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
