Ukraine war briefing: Russia accused of unprecedented missile attack on grain ship in Black Sea

Ukraine accused Russia on Thursday of using strategic bombers to strike a civilian grain vessel in Black Sea waters near Nato member Romania , escalating tensions between Moscow and the military alliance. 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 they were moored. Zelenskiy said the vessel carrying Ukrainian grain to Egypt was hit overnight by a Russian missile just after it left Ukrainian territorial waters. There were no casualties, he said. 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 the vessel at 11.02pm local time on Wednesday.

The US ambassador to Ukraine “strongly condemned” the attack and said Russia was responsible . A United Nations spokesperson said the incident was a “stark reminder” of the threats still faced in the Black Sea by civilian vessels. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

UK PM Keir Starmer is heading to Washington for a “strategic discussion” with US president Joe Biden about Ukraine and the Middle East. The discussion is expected to include a decision to allow Ukraine to launch longer-range attacks inside Russia with partly British-made Storm Shadow missiles. Starmer added it was not to try to force a peace agreement on Ukraine. “Ultimately that’s a discussion that has to be led by President Zelenskiy,” Starmer said. Instead, he said, “it’s very important for two key allies” to discuss foreign policy questions “among themselves and to have spaces to do that”. Ukraine has been lobbying to use Storm Shadow and US-made Atacms missiles for many months.

Starmer has told Vladimir Putin the Russian president started the war in Ukraine and could end it at any time after the Russian leader warned that any use of long-range British missiles into Russian territory would put Nato at war with his country. The prime minister spoke en route to Washington to meet Biden.

Russia says its forces have recaptured 10 settlements after it launched a counteroffensive in the Kursk region to push out Ukrainian troops who stormed across the border five weeks ago. With fierce fighting continuing, Russia’s defence ministry listed the names of 10 settlements it said it had retaken, in a significant blow to Kyiv. Zelenskiy acknowledged a Russian counteroffensive had begun.

More than $30m (£23m) worth of aircraft tyres made by western manufacturers were imported into Russia last year via intermediaries despite attempts to ban the trade , according to a Ukrainian government agency.

Russian shelling on Thursday killed three people and injured nine in a village in north-eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region , regional prosecutors said. A statement said one person died of his injuries in hospital after the attack on the village of Borova, south-east of Kharkiv. Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second-largest city and a frequent target of Russian strikes. The interior ministry had earlier reported emergency services were working at the site of the initial attack when Moscow’s troops shelled it again. Three rescuers were among the injured.

A hundred people gathered on Thursday in the central synagogue in Kyiv to pay tribute to Matityahu Anton Samborskyi, the son of Ukraine’s chief rabbi who was killed fighting Russian forces . Mourners carried flowers, touched the coffin and shook hands with the deceased’s father chief rabbi Moshe Azman, who was holding back tears. “I want God to take revenge for him and for the other innocents, soldiers and civilians who are dying in this war,” Azman said.

UK counter-terrorism police are providing support to the investigation into the death of a Daily Telegraph journalist in Gibraltar . David Knowles died while on holiday on Sunday after what his employers said was believed to be a cardiac arrest. The audio journalist, 32, had joined the Telegraph in 2020 and was behind its Ukraine: The Latest podcast.