The most serious casualty was the Liberian-flagged Anna S, attacked while approaching Novorossiysk to load barley; it caught fire, was left unable to continue its voyage, and its crew was evacuated. Five grain ships serving the Russian ports of Novorossiysk and Tuapse were struck on Monday and Tuesday alone, including the Russian-flagged Victoria V, the Marshall Islands-flagged Fehu, and the Malta-flagged Elina B carrying around 56,000 tonnes of wheat.
The tanker campaign is also widening: the suezmax Skiros was attacked on Sunday after loading Russian-origin crude at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiysk, starting a bridge-area fire with no reported injuries or pollution. Russia claimed fresh attacks on a dry cargo ship southeast of Odesa and on fuel storage tanks at Chornomorsk on Wednesday. Russian crude exports through Novorossiysk fell to roughly 400,000 barrels per day in the first half of August, about half June-July levels.
Context
The strikes follow Ukraine's mid-August proposal of a mutual Black Sea truce on attacks against civilian shipping, which the article says has apparently collapsed.