Iran has threatened Ukraine with retaliation, alleging that Kyiv was responsible for an "attack" on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea that resulted in one fatality and one injury. Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned Ukraine's chargé d'affaires to protest what it described as a "hostile and criminal" act.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated on X that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had "attacked an Iranian commercial vessel, killing a sailor." Araghchi characterized the incident as a "blatant UN Charter violation done at Israel's behest to drag Europe into its war," and asserted that the action "CANNOT GO UNANSWERED." Tehran has declared it will defend its national interests and security, accusing Kyiv of attempting to expand the conflict.
President Zelensky, in subsequent remarks, acknowledged that Iran's vessel was being used to transport Russian "military cargo." He also claimed that Kyiv had observed Russia passing on satellite observations in the Middle East to Iran, enabling it to direct strikes in the region amidst its ongoing conflict with the United States and its Gulf allies. Zelensky stated that between July 19 and 20 alone, Russian satellite surveillance had covered four air bases: two in Bahrain, one in Jordan, and one in Kuwait.
Recent Attacks in Ukraine
Meanwhile, Ukraine experienced a barrage of Russian attacks. Early Sunday, the capital, Kyiv, came under ballistic missile attack, with explosions rocking the city. Ukraine's air force reported that Russian forces launched seven ballistic missiles and 136 drones overnight. In the northern city of Chernihiv, a Russian drone struck a supermarket, killing two people, including a child, and wounding three others. President Zelensky described this as "deliberate Russian terror that has no military justification."
In the eastern city of Kharkiv, one person was killed and 12 others required medical attention following a daytime drone attack. A glide bomb attack in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia resulted in one fatality and six injuries. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that a multi-storey apartment block in a central district caught fire after the overnight missile attack, wounding three people in the capital.
In Horlivka, a city in Russian-occupied Donetsk province, Russian-installed Mayor Ivan Prikhodko reported that four civilians were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike. On Saturday, Russian-installed authorities accused Ukraine of deliberately attacking civilians after 12 people were killed in a drone attack on a holiday camp in a Russian-held part of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region.
Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the conflict, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Thousands of civilians have died during the war.