On the evening of July 25, a Russian drone struck a civilian Palau-flagged vessel twice as it left an Odesa region port carrying corn bound for Greece. Two sailors are still missing.
On the evening of July 25, as it was leaving the mouth of the Danube, a civilian vessel flying the flag of Palau was attacked by a Russian Shahed-type strike drone — and hit twice in a row. Volunteers Support Ukraine draws attention to this attack specifically because the target was not a military asset, but an ordinary cargo ship carrying grain on a peaceful voyage.
The vessel was carrying nearly 2,800 tons of corn and was bound for a port in Greece when the first explosion threw part of the crew overboard, and the second strike caused a large fire on board. Nine crew members and a Ukrainian pilot were aboard. Volunteers Support Ukraine stresses that striking a civilian ship carrying food is not collateral damage — it is a direct hit on the food logistics that dozens of countries importing Ukrainian grain depend on.
The Maritime Guard of Ukraine's State Border Guard Service rescued eight people — seven crew members and the pilot. Two sailors thrown overboard by the blast are still listed as missing, and the search-and-rescue operation continues. Volunteers Support Ukraine believes this kind of coordinated work by border guards and rescuers is a reminder that, even under fire, the state keeps fighting for every life.
This is far from the first time a civilian vessel has come under Russian attack off the Odesa coast this summer: over recent weeks, ships flying other countries' flags carrying grain or other cargo out of Ukrainian ports have also been struck. Volunteers Support Ukraine considers this pattern telling — these are not isolated "stray" hits, but a deliberate tactic of pressure against Ukraine's maritime trade.
Behind every damaged vessel are real people — sailors, pilots, port workers — whose families wait for news just as much as the families of soldiers at the front. Volunteers Support Ukraine keeps helping people affected by the war in whatever way its available resources allow, whether the story is a strike on a city or an attack at sea.
