Russia Claims Strikes on Two More Ships Near Odesa
Russia's ministry of defense claims that its forces have struck two more ships near the port of Odesa, along with shoreside infrastructure.
As the ministry often does, it claimed that the vessels were carrying arms for Ukraine's military.
Ukraine's shipping corridor almost certainly serves the transport of arms, but its civilian usage is just as important to the country's economy. The Black Sea carries the bulk of Ukraine's grain exports, which account for a substantial share of its GDP. Ukraine has gone to great lengths to defend its sea lanes from Russian attack, but recent missile and drone strikes have been regularly getting through and striking foreign-flagged merchant ships.
Both sides have been taking aim at civilian grain ships in an effort to impose economic pressure and stretch the other side's defenses. The toll includes seafarer casualties and marine pollution - like the looming risk of a fuel spill from the lost freighter Golden Leo, which was hit by Russian missiles off Odesa.
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Iran came close to joining the Russian campaign against Ukraine's seaports, according to the New York Times, in hopes of retaliating for the recent Ukrainian strike on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea. Diplomatic efforts appear to have headed off an escalation into a new side conflict between Iran and Ukraine, which are both within range of each other's missile and drone capabilities.
The two sides are already engaged in an indirect fight. Ukraine has helped GCC nations to defend against Iran's lower-end drones, which are slow, numerous, and very familiar to Ukraine's experts: Iran provided its Shahed-136 drone design to Russia, which has launched more than 40,000 of them against targets inside Ukraine. For this reason, Ukraine has more experience and technology to counter this specific Iranian drone model than any other nation can provide.
