Hours after a phone call on Friday between Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian forces launched a large-scale ballistic missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s Odesa Oblast. The strikes hit two ports and damaged at least three commercial vessels, all owned by Turkish-based companies.
One of the ships, the Panamanian-flagged and Turkish-owned CENK T roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry, was struck by at least one drone, sparking a major fire that caused extensive damage, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
