Journal · · 2 min read
Russia says it struck three cargo ships in the Black Sea
Per Reuters (November 8, 2026), Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces struck three cargo vessels in the Black Sea overnight: a container ship near the port of Odesa that the ministry claimed was delivering weapons and military equipment; a second container ship at the port of Chornomorsk that Moscow said had brought dual-use cargo; and a dry cargo ship southwest of Odesa that the ministry said was carrying military goods for Ukraine's armed forces. Reuters could not independently verify these claims, and Ukraine did not immediately comment. No casualties among the ships' crews were reported; simultaneous strikes on two power substations left more than 600,000 people without electricity in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Ukrainian power company DTEK.
Russia's Defence Ministry said on November 8, 2026 that its forces struck three cargo vessels in the Black Sea overnight, Reuters reported. According to the ministry, the first target was a container ship near the port of Odesa that it claimed was delivering weapons and military equipment. The second was another container ship at the port of Chornomorsk, in the same southwestern Ukrainian region, which the ministry said had brought in dual-use cargo. The third was a dry cargo ship southwest of Odesa, said to be carrying military goods for Ukraine's armed forces. Reuters could not independently verify any of these claims, and Ukraine gave no immediate comment.
The same night also saw strikes on energy infrastructure: the Defence Ministry said it hit two power substations, in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr regions, which it claimed supplied military-industrial enterprises. Ukrainian power company DTEK said the strike on the Dnipropetrovsk facilities left more than 600,000 people without electricity. No deaths or injuries among the three ships' crews were mentioned in the reporting.
For shipowners and shippers working with Ukraine's Black Sea ports, this is another episode in a recurring pattern — a similar strike on a cargo ship near Odesa was reported on November 2. As the number of incidents has grown, NATO announced in October it would deploy maritime patrol aircraft, radars and drones to its eastern flank following a series of strikes on ships near the territorial waters of Romania and Bulgaria — a direct factor in war-risk insurance premiums and carriers' willingness to call at Black Sea ports.
Source: Reuters (via The Moscow Times), November 8, 2026 — https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/11/08/russia-says-hit-power-substations-in-ukraine-and-3-ships-in-black-sea-a94203
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