Russian Missile Hits Fourth Cargo Ship in Ukraine This Month

Bloomberg: A Russian missile hit a fourth cargo ship in Ukraine this month, as the Kremlin ramps up its attacks on Kyiv’s trade infrastructure.

A grain storage facility at Odesa port was attacked on Monday, killing one person and injuring two others, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram. A ship called NS Moon was also hit, while the bulk carrier Optima was struck for a second time, he said.

The NS Moon was delivering metal products, people familiar with the matter said.

The cost of insuring vessels that transit Ukraine’s shipping corridor in the Black Sea jumped this week after the uptick in attacks. Earlier this month, two ships loaded with grain and a container vessel with a humanitarian cargo were hit.

Exports of grain and agricultural commodities are a key revenue earner for the country. Kyiv has transported large export volumes through the Black Sea shipping corridor it set up last year, after Russia pulled out of a United Nations-backed safe-transit deal.

The Ukrainian navy said ports in greater Odesa continued to operate as normal.

“The attacks are very much the same as those they carried out during the UN Grain Deal, and now they continue,” navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said.