Russian forces launched a missile strike on port infrastructure in Odesa, Ukraine, on the evening of March 11, damaging a foreign cargo ship, according to Serhiy Bratchuk, head of the Public Council at the Odesa Regional Military Administration.
Preliminary reports indicate that four crew members were killed and another was injured, Bratchuk said. The outlet Dumskaya wrote that the attack was carried out with an Iskander-M missile equipped with a cluster warhead.
According to MarineTraffic, the damaged cargo ship, MJ Pinar, sails under the Barbados flag and is operated by a Greek company. Its last recorded location was on March 3 in the Black Sea, east of Odesa.
The Maritime Executive reported that the vessel was loading 30,000 tons of wheat in Odesa at the time of the strike. A fire broke out onboard, killing three Syrian crew members and one Ukrainian, the outlet reported. The ship had a crew of 12.
The deputy prime minister for restoration of Ukraine, Oleksiy Kuleba, said the youngest victim was 18 years old and the oldest 24, adding that all were Syrian nationals. Two others were wounded, Kuleba wrote. He said the MJ Pinar was loading wheat for export to Algeria when the strike occurred. Another vessel, port piers, and grain storage warehouses were also damaged.