The Indian Embassy in Ukraine is ‘closely monitoring’ the situation after one more cargo vessel was hit by a projectile in the Black Sea port of Odessa. In a notification, the Embassy said that the ship MV AGN RAGNAR had four Indian seafarers out of whom two have been found to be safe while information about other two nationals is awaited.
“MV AGN RAGNAR which was struck at the Port of Odessa, on 25 July. Four Indian nationals were on board the vessel. As per the latest information, two have been confirmed safe, and information is awaited regarding the other two nationals. Search and rescue operations are under way. The Embassy is in constant touch with the concerned authorities,” said the Indian Embassy in an announcement without specifying who had fired the projectile that hit the ship.
Earlier on July 19, MV Golden Leo, a Guinea Bissau-flagged ship was hit by projectiles that led to the death of ten seafarers out of whom four were Indian citizens. This incident prompted the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to summon the chargé d’affaires of the Russian Embassy in India. External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the East Asia summit in Manila on July 22 where he expressed “strong concern regarding the safety of Indian seafarers in the region”.
Subsequently Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russia was in touch India over the matter and added, “Our armed forces are striking and will continue to strike those vessels that are involved in transporting ammunition, weapons and so on, for the purposes of the Kiev regime.” Responding to this assertion, the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said that the ship was civilian in nature.
“So, let me tell you that as far as or as per the information that is that was made available to us by the Directorate General of Maritime Administration of our country, this particular ship, Golden Leo, which as you know was Guinea-Bissau flagged and on which we lost four of our nationals, it loaded grain as cargo prior to leaving the port of Odessa and this happened on 19th July. We once again reiterate that commercial shipping and seafarers should not be attacked under any circumstances,” said Mr. Jaiswal during the by-weekly briefing on July 24, 2026.
The Indian Embassy in Ukraine has shared the following details for emergency contacts: [email protected] [email protected] and telephone number:- +380933559958 Mr. Aji Kumar, SS (Consular)
Published - July 26, 2026 01:20 pm IST