Russian strikes hit international civilian ships near Ukraine’s Odesa ports [Chinese ship hit]

Russia has unleashed rare attacks on international civilian shipping approaching Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea on Monday, hitting at least two vessels in the Odesa region, including a cargo ship owned by a Chinese company and crewed by Chinese nationals, Ukrainian authorities said.

Ukraine’s navy said one strike hit the KSL Deyang, a Chinese-owned cargo ship with a Chinese crew sailing under a Marshall Islands flag, as it approached ports in the region and posted images showing scorch damage to the ship’s hull.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that a Russian drone had struck a vessel owned by China, without providing further details.

A source told Reuters that the Deyang was sailing without cargo at the time of the attack and was en route to load iron ore concentrate at the Pivdennyi port in the Odesa region.

The fire caused by the strike was extinguished by the crew, and there were no casualties or significant damage, the source added.

Separately, regional governor Oleh Kiper said a Panama-flagged civilian vessel heading to Chornomorsk port was also hit in a Russian attack early on Monday, causing a fire.

The vessel sustained damage but no injuries were reported, and the crew put out the blaze, he said on Telegram, adding the ship continued its voyage.

Ukraine’s seaports authority said the strikes hit civilian vessels under different flags, including Marshall Islands and Guinea-Bissau registrations, all en route to or near ports in the Odesa region.

Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s Black Sea port infrastructure and maritime export routes since its full-scale invasion more than four years ago, seeking to disrupt trade critical to Kyiv’s wartime economy.

Not that implausible.

The message Beijing sent to Moscow in February 2022 was, in effect, “you’re acting in direct violation of not just your own commitments of non-aggression toward Ukraine, but ours as well. If you think you can get it done, get it done quickly; do not use nukes.”

China absolutely does not want to have to take sides in this, but they’ve made clear the circumstances under which they would abandon Russia.

Russia is supported by China because of the historical ties and because Putin points the finger at the West for starting it. However, NATO and China, and Ukraine and China, had deals in place before the Specially Retarded Military Operation started.

Even including Budapest Memorandum adjacent assurances from China to Ukraine. Google it if you don’t believe me. China wanted Ukraine to play a pivotal role as a bridge between Eurasia and the European Union on the Belt and Road. Scuttlebutt is, the Chinese were getting seriously pissed off at Putin’s own paranoia and Europhobia making Russia the main obstacle to B&R enagement with Europe.

The historical support from Moscow to Beijing and vice versa does have a hard limit. Xi’s told Putin multiple times, if he so much as warms up a nuke in this engagement, China will STOP supporting Russia - and quite possibly even take NATO’s side. “There’s no excuse for you to use nukes” is Xi’s unwavering red line. Xi said that even while Putin was sending ultimatums to NATO in fall and winter of 2021.

Ukraine might not be getting weapons directly from China, but it sure is getting a lot of the tech it needs to stay in the fight from SOMEWHERE, and there sure are Chinese shipments still reaching Ukraine.

China, through back channels and proxies, is probably helping Ukraine even more than the USA is.

Xi’s also done it without ever publicly acknowledging this positioning, let alone complaining about the cost / demanding anything in return / telling Ukraine what it can and can’t do with the support it is getting.

China wants maximum plausible deniability while it’s throwing aid to Ukraine. They may be assholes in Beijing, but when they signed their Budapest Memorandum equivalent with Ukraine, they absolutely meant to keep their word.

Weirdly, Belarus is in the same position. Publicly Lukashenko has to big up the threat of little old Belarus getting off the fence; privately he sends thoughts and prayers to Putin while making damned sure Putin doesn’t dwell too much on the remakable fact that the Belarussians who are fighting in Ukraine, are fighting WITH Ukraine not with Russia.

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