Politics Romania condemns Russian shelling of grain ship

Romania has strongly condemned the Russian shelling of a merchant ship coming from Ukraine in the Black Sea. This represents an "unprecedented escalation" of Russia's actions in the war against Ukraine.

It is a "serious violation of international humanitarian law", explained the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest. The freighter "Aya" was supposed to transport wheat from Ukraine to Egypt and was in international waters at the time of the attack.

Russia was also endangering the security of global food supplies "through the systematic bombing of Ukrainian infrastructure and ships transporting grain", the ministry in Bucharest added.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared on Platform X that a Russian missile had hit a ship loaded with wheat shortly after it had left Ukrainian waters. "We expect reactions from the world," he wrote.

No one was injured in the incident. As an important guarantor of food safety, Ukraine will continue to "make every effort to protect our ports, the Black Sea and food exports to global markets", Selensky continued.

SDA