Russia's Defense Ministry says it targets cargo vessel serving Ukrainian military
Moscow's demand for the rest of Donbas has not changed, and team-level trilateral talks are planned for early November.
Published
The strike adds a maritime dimension to a month dominated by overland strikes on refineries, power grids and industrial sites inside Russia. Diplomacy has moved forward alongside those attacks this month, not in place of them, and that pattern now extends to shipping.
Black Sea shipping has figured in the wider grain and energy-logistics backdrop of the conflict. A hit on a vessel there raises the question of whether maritime routes become a new point of friction, alongside the trade of refinery strikes for interceptors that Kyiv has floated.
On sanctions, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the suspension of sanctions on Russia is temporary. A fourth Russian diesel tanker under the Russia-US arrangement was set to leave on October 28, with three more en route. The US and Russia are also weighing a joint oil venture off Sakhalin after the war, as part of a US push to end the war with economic incentives. Washington is discussing Russian deals for US oil majors as part of the Ukraine peace talks.
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