Russia Kills 2 Azeris in Tugboat Attack Off Odesa Coast

A Russian attack on a tugboat in the Odesa region killed two Azerbaijani nationals on Wednesday and injured eight others.Ukraine’s Ministry of Reconstruction, Infrastructure and Transport, in a Thursday statement, said Russia attacked a foreign-flagged tugboat called Tedy. An Azeri news outlet said the vessel sailed under the Somali flag.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.Of the eight injured, two were hospitalized and the six received medical care on the scene, the ministry’s statement says.Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry confirmed the incident and named the two killed crew members as Azerbaijani citizens Aslan Aliyev and Asim Gasimov.It added that the two injured sailors, Imran Novruzov and Rauf Aliyev, were receiving medical care in a hospital in Ukraine’s Black Sea city of Chornomorsk.Ukraine’s transport ministry called the attack part of Russia’s systematic campaign against civilian ships and port infrastructure, while Baku’s foreign ministry said it’s coordinating with “competent authorities of the relevant countries” on the incident before warning its citizens against traveling to “regions where military operations are ongoing or the security situation is unstable.”Russia blames UkraineAccording to independent Russian outlet Astra, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov blamed Ukraine for the escalations when asked about potential impacts on Turkish-Russian relations following Ankara’s earlier calls to de-escalate. Other Topics of Interest Ukraine Says It Hit 3 Russian Warships in Novorossiysk and Struck Caspian Sea Port Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed strikes on the Admiral Essen frigate, the Pyotr Morgunov landing ship, and the Zheleznyakov minesweeper. “It was only after the Ukrainians began striking our civilian infrastructure, our economic facilities, that they opened Pandora’s box. Those were President [Vladimir] Putin’s words,” Peskov said.He then claimed the civilian vessels were transporting weapons to Ukraine and said the attacks would continue unabated.“A huge number of commercial vessels are being used to transport weapons, ammunition, fuel for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and so on. These vessels are being destroyed and will continue to be destroyed,” he added.A similar incident also unfolded in June when a Russian attack killed five Azeris, with the Kremlin also pinning the blame on Kyiv.Baku, Moscow’s love-hate relationshipDiplomatic ties between Baku and Moscow can aptly be described as a rollercoaster over the past two years.The ties reached a new low when Russia hit an Azerbaijani civilian airliner in December 2024, with Baku demanding “decent behavior” from Moscow in the wake of the incident. Moscow dodged direct responsibility for months, before later acknowledging that its air defenses “exploded” near the aircraft, while still stopping short of admitting that a Russian missile struck the jet.The year 2025 was marked by multiple diplomatic spats, including an Azeri raid on the office of a Russian outlet, accusations of Russian police murdering Azeri nationals in Yekaterinburg and the subsequent fallout, a Kremlin mouthpiece threatening a “special military operation” against Azerbaijan, and Baku’s remarks to Kyiv to “never accept occupation.”The ties somewhat thawed in late 2025, as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev seemingly reconciled with Putin, with Baku appearing somewhat neutral by maintaining ties with Ukraine while secretly hosting a German-Russian talk in 2026. Leo Chiu is a journalist and editor based in Eastern Europe since 2015. He has witnessed two presidential elections in Belarus and traveled widely to conflict zones and contested regions, producing reporting that bridges the gap between major developments and local realities.