Ukraine expresses condolences as India summons envoy after seafarers die in Black Sea strikes

New Delhi: The embassy of Ukraine in India on Monday conveyed its condolences over the deaths of Indian seafarers in the Black Sea, even as New Delhi summoned envoys from both Kyiv and Moscow within the space of a week over separate attacks on commercial vessels carrying Indian crew. In a statement issued in New Delhi, the embassy said Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, had written a letter of condolence to India’s external affairs minister, Dr S Jaishankar, over the loss of Indian lives amid what it called the deteriorating security situation in the Black Sea.

It added that a telephone conversation between the two foreign ministers was expected shortly to discuss the matter in detail.

The gesture came on a day when the Ministry of External Affairs summoned Ukraine’s ambassador to India, Oleksandr Polishchuk, to register serious concern over the attack on the commercial vessel MV Omorfi, which resulted in the death of an Indian seafarer. The ministry called the targeting of civilian crew unacceptable and said it must not be repeated.

Read also: Why Indian Seafarers Matter – Not soldiers, not combatants, yet they keep paying with their lives

Three separate incidents in 10 days

The Omorfi was attacked on July 18 while transiting the Black Sea, reportedly within Russian territorial waters. Three Indian nationals were among the 10 crew members on board; one of them did not survive.

A day earlier, on July 19, the Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo vessel MV Golden Leo was struck by cruise missiles as it left the port of Odesa carrying a consignment of corn. Four of the 17 crew members – a mix of Indian and Syrian nationals – were killed, and a fifth remains in critical condition in hospital. Ukraine’s air force attributed the strike to Russian forces, and Kyiv said the vessel had been sailing through a designated civilian maritime corridor at the time. New Delhi summoned Russia’s charge d’affaires, Denis Alipov, over the incident and lodged a strong protest.

A third vessel, the MV GN Ragnar, was struck at Odesa port on Sunday. Four Indians were on board; two have been confirmed safe, while the fate of the other two remained unclear as search and rescue efforts continued.

The three incidents, occurring within ten days of one another and involving attacks attributed to both sides of the conflict, mark the first known Indian civilian casualties since the Russia-Ukraine war began in 2022.

Centre tightens advisory for seafarers

Earlier, the Directorate General of Maritime Administration issued Circular 41 on July 23, a maritime security advisory covering Indian-flagged ships as well as foreign-flagged vessels employing Indian seafarers transiting or operating in the Black Sea. The MEA has separately advised Indian nationals to weigh the security risks carefully before accepting employment on commercial vessels bound for the region, as RNA Media had reported.

India is among the largest suppliers of manpower to the global merchant marine, with more than 320,000 active seafarers recorded in 2025 by the shipping ministry, a scale that leaves its nationals disproportionately exposed whenever Black Sea shipping lanes come under fire.

Odesa remains central to the crisis. As Ukraine’s principal seaport, it handles the bulk of the country’s grain, metal and chemical exports and has been repeatedly targeted through the war, including a strike days before the Golden Leo attack that killed two people and drew condemnation from President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine’s statement on Black Sea shipping

Earlier, on Friday, Ukraine’s ministry of foreign affairs had issued a formal statement on threats to foreign vessels sailing to and from Russian ports in the Black Sea, which the Kyiv embassy in New Delhi circulated to Indian media on Monday alongside its condolence message.

The statement said Russian attacks through 2025 and 2026 had caused numerous civilian casualties among seafarers, maritime pilots and crew, including in strikes on port infrastructure along Ukraine’s maritime export corridor. It argued that the risks to civilian navigation arising from Russian actions in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov could be reduced if partner countries acted swiftly on preventive warnings shared with them.

Kyiv said it had repeatedly briefed international partners, including senior Indian officials, on the growing threat to civilian shipping, as well as on the measures it was taking to intercept military cargo and disrupt logistics routes supporting Russia’s war effort. These concerns, it said, had also been formally raised with the International Maritime Organization through circular letters dated June 12 and June 26, 2026.

The embassy noted India’s own response to the crisis, acknowledging the Directorate General of Maritime Administration’s Circular 41 of July 23 as a timely step, and said preventive action by competent authorities was essential to protecting seafarers and preserving international maritime security in areas where threats had been clearly identified.

Beyond Sybiha’s letter to Jaishankar, the statement said Ukraine extended its sympathy to the families of the Indian seafarers who had lost their lives, and reiterated the proposal for a call between the two foreign ministers to discuss the security situation in detail. It closed by arguing that sustained international pressure on Russia remained the only durable route to restoring maritime security in the region.