KYIV, Ukraine — Russian missile strikes hit a Turkish-owned cargo ship carrying grain near the Ukrainian port of Odesa on Sunday, killing six people, as Russia also launched a large-scale missile attack on Kyiv that left one person dead and 16 others injured, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukraine’s navy said Russia fired three cruise missiles at the Golden Leo, a Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo ship, as it departed the combat zone with a grain shipment.
Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said the crew included citizens of Syria and India, while Prime Minister Sergiy Koretsky said the vessel was struck shortly after leaving Odesa.
Transport Minister Mykola Kalashnyk said eight crew members were rescued, two of whom sustained injuries. He said six sailors were confirmed dead and four others remained missing.
Sybiga also confirmed that a Ukrainian maritime pilot was killed in the attack.
Earlier Sunday, Russia launched a missile barrage on Kyiv, killing one person and injuring 16 others, according to Ukrainian authorities.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia fired more than 40 missiles at Ukraine, including 25 ballistic missiles, describing it as one of the largest ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv.
Local officials said Russian strikes also killed seven people in the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions.
Russia said its forces targeted military facilities, logistics hubs in Kyiv and port infrastructure in Odesa used by the Ukrainian military. Moscow has repeatedly denied deliberately targeting civilians.
On the Russian side, Kursk regional governor Alexander Khinshtein said a Ukrainian strike killed one person in Russia’s Kursk region near the Ukrainian border.
The attacks came as Ukraine faced renewed internal tensions following recent changes in its defense leadership. Thousands of people have protested the removal of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov and called for the resignation of Armed Forces Commander Oleksandr Syrsky.
Air Assault Forces Commander Oleg Apostol and Navy Commander Oleksiy Neizhpapa publicly expressed support for Syrsky on Sunday and urged national unity during the war.
Ukraine has also reported shortages of interceptor missiles for its U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, which President Zelensky said remain critical to defending against Russia’s increasing ballistic missile attacks.
Separately, another drone strike hit the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, an export route for Kazakh oil partly owned by Chevron and Shell. Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack, saying it threatened international trade.
