Cargo ship GOLDEN LEO sinks near Odesa after attack on civilian shipping
According to available data, Russian forces deliberately struck the ship with three Kh-59/Kh-69 cruise missiles.
The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority clarified that at the time of the missile attack, 17 crew members were on board:
The enemy strike killed nine crew members and the Ukrainian pilot. Eight other sailors were successfully evacuated.
By the time the dry cargo vessel finally sank on July 26, no crew members remained on board.
Background
On July 19, Russian forces attacked a civilian dry cargo vessel carrying grain in the Black Sea with three cruise missiles. The strike hit the GOLDEN LEO, a dry cargo ship sailing under the flag of Guinea-Bissau and owned by a company from Türkiye. At the time of the attack, the vessel was heading out of the combat zone with a cargo of grain.
Initial reports said five people had been killed. It was also known that the fate of five other crew members remained unknown, and search efforts were ongoing. As of 8:30 p.m., eight sailors had been evacuated to one of Odesa's hospitals.
The Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Maritime Search and Rescue Service took part in the search-and-rescue operation and provided assistance. Ukraine's Navy stressed that this was not Russia's first deliberate strike on an unarmed civilian vessel sailing under a foreign flag.
Later, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority reported that 10 people had been killed as a result of the Russian strike on the grain merchant vessel under the flag of Guinea-Bissau near Odesa.
India's Ministry of External Affairs also confirmed the deaths of four of its citizens in the Russian strike on the civilian vessel GOLDEN LEO, which was leaving the port of Odesa after being loaded with grain.
New Delhi also condemned the attack and stressed that shelling commercial shipping is unacceptable. This was New Delhi's first official response after the Russian strike on the GOLDEN LEO, which was carrying Ukrainian grain from the port of Odesa.
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27 of July 2026
