A 58-year-old Egyptian crew member was killed and several others, including Turkish and Indian sailors, were among those evacuated after Russian drone strikes targeted commercial vessels heading towards Ukrainian ports, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction Oleksiy Kuleba said.

In a statement posted on social media, Kuleba said Russian forces carried out overnight drone attacks on civilian merchant ships bound for Ukraine, setting one Panama-flagged vessel on fire.

"Two civilian merchant vessels bound for Ukrainian ports came under Russian drone attacks on the night of 22 June. The attack caused a fire to break out aboard a Panama-flagged vessel," he said.

According to Kuleba, the Egyptian national working as a cook aboard the Panama-flagged ship was killed in the attack. “Eight crew members, including citizens of Türkiye and India, had to be evacuated by lifeboat,” he added.

He added that vessels sailing under the flags of Palau and Belize were also targeted in the same wave of attacks.

Kuleba described the incident as “a war crime committed by Russia” and shared footage that he said showed the aftermath of the strikes.