A merchant ship flying the Panamanian flag was sunk by the Russian army in the Black Sea, we learned on Wednesday March 16 from the authorities of this country. Two other ships were damaged but are still afloat. The crews are safe and sound.
Noriel Arauz, head of the Maritime Authority of Panama, announced without giving a date: three merchant ships flying the Panamanian flag were damaged by Russian missile fire, and one of them sank.
The Panamanian official protests: the Russian navy prohibits hundreds of boats of different nationalities from leaving the Black Sea. Among them, a dozen ships flying the Panamanian flag, and transporting cereals, among other things.
#LoÚltimo: Al menos 10 barcos con bandera panameña están atrapados en el Mar Negro por la guerra en Ucrania.
Noriel Araúz, Administrator of the #AMP_Panama informó que 3 de estos barcos han sido impactados con misiles, aunque la tripulación está a salvo.
Via: Favio Caballero pic.twitter.com/09TSyrsjKP
— Oscar Salinas (@OscarSa17220243) March 17, 2022
Take back control of the Black Sea
After a first attack at the end of February, Panama had asked to avoid sailing in Ukrainian and Russian waters of the Black Sea, especially in the Sea of Azov, which bathes the eastern part of the Ukrainian coast, with Mariupol among others.
The west, where Odessa is located, lives on its side under the constant threat of a landing of Russian forces. Since the start of the war, Moscow has in fact blocked the entire northern part of the Black Sea.
The objective is to conquer the Ukrainian coast – especially the east – to make the connection between Russia and Crimea. But it is also a question of controlling the entire Black Sea, to secure the access of the Russian Federation to the South Seas.
As in the days of the Cold War, in short, when the USSR and its allies controlled, with the exception of Turkey, all the shores of the Black Sea.
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