Kyev, July 20, 2026 (Lusa) - At least six sailors were killed in a Russian missile attack on Sunday at a Ukrainian Port on the Black Sea, targeting a Turkish merchant ship flying the flag of Guinea-Bissau that was carrying grain, the Ukrainian government reported on Monday.

Four other crew members remain missing, according to Ukrainian Minister for Infrastructure Mikola Kalashnik, who said the crew comprised 17 Syrian and Indian nationals and one Ukrainian.

According to the Ukrainian Navy, Russia is believed to have used three Kh-59 and Kh-69 cruise missiles in the attack on the vessel.

The cargo ship sustained at least one hit to its superstructure, which caused a fire on deck.

According to the Ukrainian Navy, the ship that was attacked is called the Golden Leo; it is Turkish-owned and was sailing under the flag of Guinea-Bissau.

«This is yet another deliberate attack by Russia against an unarmed civilian vessel (sailing) under a foreign flag and which posed no military threat,» according to the Ukrainian Navy's statement, which classifies the Russian attack as an act of «terrorism» that violates international humanitarian law.

At this stage of the war, Russia and Ukraine have been carrying out daily attacks on foreign-flagged oil tankers and cargo ships loading at their respective ports or at Russian-occupied ports in Ukraine.

Two people died on Friday in the Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv on board a ship moored at that southern port. Five others lost their lives on 13 July when Russia attacked a ship unloading fertiliser at a port in the Ukrainian region of Odessa.

On 5 June, the Russian authorities informed Azerbaijan of the deaths of five of its citizens in Ukrainian attacks on two ships in the Sea of Azov.

Earlier this month, Ukraine launched a campaign of drone strikes against oil tankers and cargo ships using its occupied ports in the Sea of Azov or exporting from the south-western coast of the Russian Federation.

The Russian Army has responded to these attacks with a new campaign of bombardments against Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea and against the ships using them, as it has done at other stages of the war.

As a result of the tit-for-tat attacks, maritime traffic has fallen dramatically both in the Sea of Azov and along the Ukrainian and Russian coasts of the Black Sea.

APL/ADB // ADB.

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