Romania’s president says the attack on the Ukrainian ship carrying dangerous chemicals was “most likely” the result of a Russian attack, calling it a “serious incident” and launching a probe to determine its cause.
A strike on a ship in the Black Sea carrying propane to the Ukrainian port of Reni wounded three crew members and forced everyone onboard to evacuate, according to a statement by Romania's President Nicușor Dan on Tuesday.
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"Last night, the LPG tanker Gas Lisbon, flying the Liberian flag, was struck outside Romanian territorial waters, approximately 20 nautical miles off the Romanian coast," said the Romanian leader in a post on X.
“Shortly after the incident, two vessels from the Romanian Agency for the Salvage of Human Life at Sea proceeded to the scene and evacuated the entire crew, including the three injured members. All were brought safely to shore.”
Dan added that that state authorities have been mobilised and tasked with conducting investigations to determine the exact “circumstances, causes and responsibilities” related to what he called a “serious incident”, which he believes to be “most likely” a crime perpetrated by Russia.
The vessel was en route to the port of Reni in Ukraine, located on the Danube River next to the border with Romania. The ship had departed carrying more than 3,790 tonnes of propane from the Egyptian port city of Alexandria, and the strikes reportedly caused a major fire on board the vessel.
Russian attacks continue to pummel Ukraine
Meanwhile, Russian attacks are continuing to pummel Ukrainian cities on a daily basis as the Kremlin looks to ramp up pressure and shows no signs of letting it up its war, well into its fifth year.
Ukrainian officials say the Kremlin carried out strikes on multiple cities overnight into Tuesday. Earlier, Ukraine’s Air Force said it had intercepted 46 of 58 drones fired across the border from Russia, in what is its latest barrage of an intensified offensive.
They added that the attacks targeted many areas, including Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and the industrial eastern Donbas region, which has been majority occupied by Russia for years, and makes up roughly 22% of the country.
Attacks in Kherson killed one regional administration employee, according to local officials, while another woman sustained what were described as “fatal injuries”.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, authorities say strikes in Chernihiv and Sumy caused major fires to erupt, prompting local response teams to intervene and put out the blazes.
Ukraine strikes back
Kyiv has also launched its own counteroffensive operations, with Ukrainian media detailing that attacks on Russia’s western city of Lipetsk caused fires to break out at industrial facilities in the early hours of Tuesday.
Lipetsk Regional Governor Igor Artamonov said that a fire had broken out, noting that authorities have launched an investigation to determine the causes, though declined to confirm that an attack had taken place.
The complex in question is the NLMK steel plant, located about 400 kilometres east of Ukraine’s border, and is Russia’s largest steel producer, accounting for approximately 20% of the country’s steel output.
Ukrainian media say the plant supplies steel to companies involved in missile production for the Russian military.