A large fire broke out on a Turkish car ferry anchored at the Ukrainian port city of Odesa after it was hit in a strike on Friday. The company that operates the Cenk T confirmed the attack occurred at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT) shortly after it docked at the Chornomorsk port. according to BBC .Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky has blamed the strike on Russia, which has not commented . I

It is noteworthy that Turky controls the Bosphorus Strait, which is a key passage for transporting Ukrainian grain and Russian oil out to the Mediterranean.Turkiye, which has the longest Black Sea coastline at approximately 1,329km (826 miles), has grown increasingly alarmed at the escalating attacks in its back yard and has offered to mediate between Kyiv and Moscow.

A limited ceasefire for energy facilities and ports 

The attack came hours after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a limited ceasefire for energy facilities and ports could be beneficial. Russia has resisted all calls for a ceasefire.Turkey's foreign ministry said an agreement should be reached that would guarantee "the security of shipping and suspending attacks against energy and port infrastructure in order to prevent escalation in the Black Sea". "We once again underline the importance of urgently ending the war between Russia and Ukraine," the ministry said. Turkey has sought to maintain relations with the two warring countries since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

Moscow has threatened to cut "Ukraine off from the sea"

Moscow has threatened to cut "Ukraine off from the sea" in response to Kyiv's maritime drone attacks on Russia's "shadow fleet" tankers thought to be used to export oil - and a main source for funding the ongoing war.Cenk Denizcilik, the company that owns the cargo ship that operates on the Karasu-Odesa route across the Black Sea, said on Friday that it had been carrying "essential food supplies" when it was hit shortly after anchoring at the Ukrainian port city.

Attacked two Ukrainian ports

Russian forces have attacked two Ukrainian ports, damaging three Turkish-owned vessels, including a ship carrying food supplies, according to Ukrainian officials and a shipowner.

Friday’s attacks by Russian forces targeted Chornomorsk and Odesa ports in Ukraine’s southwestern Odesa region on the Black Sea. A Ukrainian navy spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that three Turkish-owned vessels were damaged in total, but did not provide additional details.

A “civilian vessel”

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 said the Russian attacks “had no … military purpose whatsoever”.

“This proves once again that Russians not only fail to take the current opportunity for diplomacy seriously enough, but also continue the war precisely to destroy normal life in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.Zelenskyy did not name the vessel, but it was identified as the Panama-flagged and Turkish-owned Cenk T by Reuters, which matched cranes and buildings to satellite imagery of Chornomorsk port.

The ship’s owners, Cenk Shipping,

The ship’s owners, Cenk Shipping, confirmed it was attacked at about 4pm local time (14:00 GMT). There were no casualties among the crew, and damage to the ship was limited, it added.

An employee of a private company was also injured in a separate attack on Odesa port, where a cargo loader was also damaged, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba confirmed.

Related : Ukraine claims responsibility for attack targeting two Russian oil tankers off the coast of Türkiy

Source : Agencies 

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