On the evening of August 5, a Russian strike hit the civilian cargo ship Mera Queen, flying the Guinea-Bissau flag and loaded with Ukrainian wheat. A 24-year-old sailor was killed and three others were injured.
On the evening of August 5, Russian forces struck the civilian dry cargo ship Mera Queen, sailing under the Guinea-Bissau flag, as it carried Ukrainian wheat through Black Sea waters off the Odesa region. The strike killed a 24-year-old crew member — a motorman and Ukrainian citizen. Three more sailors, aged 44 and 64 and one younger crew member, were injured. Volunteers Support Ukraine believes attacks on civilian shipping deserve just as much of the world's attention as strikes on cities.
Mera Queen is a dry cargo vessel registered in Guinea-Bissau that was carrying a load of Ukrainian wheat at the time of the strike. Voyages like this one are part of the daily work that keeps Ukrainian grain reaching world markets despite the war. Volunteers Support Ukraine points out that the food security of millions of people in other countries depends directly on the safety of routes exactly like this one.
The strike damaged the ship's hull and started a fire that emergency crews fought for more than ten hours, fully containing it only around 6 a.m. on August 6. The crew was evacuated to shore in time, and the injured received medical care immediately. The attack was reported by the Administration of Sea Ports of Ukraine and Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration.
According to Kiper, strikes like this one once again demonstrate the systematic nature and cynicism of Russian terror — they endanger not only civilian sailors' lives but global food security, since routes exactly like this one carry Ukrainian grain to countries that depend on it. Volunteers Support Ukraine believes this dimension of the war's cost to the world deserves to be talked about just as loudly as the strikes on Ukrainian cities.
Every strike like this is a reminder that the war reaches far beyond the front line, into economies and food security well outside Ukraine's borders. Volunteers Support Ukraine keeps helping people affected by the fighting in whatever way its available resources allow, and believes safe sea routes matter for victory just as much as the defense of cities.
