Turkey warns of escalation after third straight attack on Merchant Vessel – Firstpost

Turkey’s maritime affairs directorate reported Tuesday that another commercial tanker had come under attack in the Black Sea while sailing towards Georgia. The incident, which did not result in any injuries, marks the third such reported attack in recent days, raising severe concerns in Ankara about the widening threat the Russia-Ukraine conflict poses to international navigation.

The vessel involved in the latest incident was the Midvolga 2, a tanker laden with sunflower oil and travelling from Russia. The attack occurred approximately 80 nautical miles off the Turkish coast in the central Black Sea region. According to a post by the Turkish directorate on X, all 13 crew members on board were safe, and the ship did not require assistance, continuing its journey towards the Turkish port of Sinop.

This new attack follows two earlier, similar incidents on Friday, where commercial vessels were hit by explosions off the Turkish coast. For those prior strikes, a Ukrainian security source claimed responsibility, telling news outlets that drones had successfully targeted vessels that were “covertly transporting Russian oil.” The repeated targeting of commercial shipping suggests a deliberate escalation of maritime operations in the strategic Black Sea.

The string of incidents has drawn sharp criticism from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On Monday, following the first two strikes, he denounced the attacks as a “worrying escalation.” Erdogan said that Turkey “cannot under any circumstances accept these attacks, which threaten the safety of navigation, the environment and lives in our exclusive economic zone,” adding that the ongoing war has clearly reached a stage where it now “threatens the safety of navigation in the Black Sea.”