Russia has attacked a Chinese ship heading towards a Ukrainian port, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, just a day before Vladimir Putin travels to Beijing to meet with Xi Jinping.
Reuters reported that the Russian drone hit the Marshall Islands-flagged KSL DEYANG off the coast of Ukraine early Monday (May 18).
The ship was carrying no cargo and was heading to the port of Pivden in the Odessa region to load iron ore concentrate. Despite the fire, the ship was not seriously damaged and no one was injured.
"The Russians could not have not known which ship was at sea," Zelensky said, underlining the seriousness of the action.
The attack comes just days after Putin and Xi exchanged "congratulatory letters" and four days after Donald Trump left China following a high-level summit.
At the same time, Russia has faced one of the largest attacks of the year, with at least 3,124 Ukrainian drones being captured and destroyed last week, according to the Ukrainian defense minister.
Zelensky called the attacks "fully justified" in a post on X.
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