By Pavel Polityuk, Yuliia Dysa and Tom Balmforth
KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine accused Russia on Thursday of using strategic bombers to strike a civilian grain vessel in a missile attack in Black Sea waters near NATO member Romania, escalating tensions between Moscow and the military alliance.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the vessel carrying Ukrainian grain to Egypt had been hit overnight by a Russian missile just after it left Ukrainian territorial waters. There were no casualties, he said.
There was no immediate comment from Russia.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the strike was “a brazen attack on freedom of navigation and global food security”. Ukraine’s navy said Russian Tupolev Tu-22 bombers had fired a number of cruise missiles at 11:02 p.m. local time (2002 GMT) on Wednesday.
It was the first time a missile has struck a civilian vessel transporting grains at sea since the start of Moscow’s invasion in February 2022. Some vessels have been damaged during Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports where …