Saturday, 19 September 2026, 02:30:00 PM
Turkey pushes Black Sea truce
Turkey has presented Russia and Ukraine with a draft proposal aimed at ending attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea, the latest attempt to contain a maritime conflict that is taking an increasingly heavy toll on merchant shipping.

Turkey pushes Black Sea truce

Ankara has shared the text of a memorandum with both Moscow and Kyiv designed to find a solution to the growing number of strikes on ships. Turkey was instrumental in an earlier grain corridor agreement from a couple of years ago.   Recent US efforts to cool the maritime conflict have failed to produce a broader pause. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said this month that a Russian-Ukrainian ban on attacks against ships carrying civilian cargoes would be impossible to monitor.   Yesterday (17 Sep) a Tanzanian-flagged merchant vessel heading towards a Ukrainian port was struck by what Kyiv said was a Russian drone. The captain was killed and three other crewmembers injured. Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry said the condition of the vessel was still being assessed.      Turkey has its own growing list of casualties to contend with. The owner of the Turkish-flagged bulker Reyhan Sari, surviving crewmembers and the family of a sailor killed in a July attack near Novorossiysk have filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court in The Hague seeking an investigation into the strike. The 36,075 dwt ship had loaded coal at Taman and was heading for Turkey when it was hit. One seafarer was killed and several others injured.

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