On Sunday, July 19, Russian forces launched a missile strike on the civilian bulk carrier GOLDEN LEO, which was leaving a Ukrainian port near Odesa with a cargo of corn. According to the latest information, six sailors were killed and four others remain missing.
The Ukrainian Navy and Ukraine’s Minister for Restoration, Infrastructure and Transport, Mykola Kalashnyk, reported the attack.
The Guinea-Bissau-flagged vessel, owned by a Turkish company, was attacked with three Kh-59/Kh-69 cruise missiles. The strike hit the starboard side of the superstructure, starting a fire on board.
There were 18 people aboard: 17 citizens of Syria and India, as well as a Ukrainian pilot.
Eight crew members were rescued. Two of them were injured, and those evacuated were taken to a hospital in Odesa.
The Navy initially reported five fatalities and five crew members whose fate was unknown. Kalashnyk later clarified that the death toll had risen to six, while four people remained missing.
Units of the Ukrainian Navy and the Maritime Search and Rescue Service were involved in the rescue operation. The search for the missing people is continuing, while the vessel’s technical condition is being assessed.
The Ukrainian Navy described the attack as a deliberate strike on an unarmed civilian vessel sailing under a foreign flag and as an act of terror against peaceful shipping. Kalashnyk said the strike also threatened international navigation and global food security.
