РУССКИЙ
10:58 27.05.2025 •
Container ship (left) and Iskander-M Launch.
Photo: MWM
The Russian Armed Forces on have employed an Iskander-M tactical ballistic missile system to launch a precision strike on a container ship carrying cargo to the Ukrainian port of Odessa. The ship was reported to be carrying 100 containers of military cargo including drone systems, ‘The Military Watch Magazine’ reports.
Commenting on the attack, the Russian Defense Ministry reported: "On May 23, crews of Iskander missile systems carried out a group missile strike on a container ship that was transporting military assets to the port of Odessa, as well as a warehouse storing containers in that port. The ship was carrying about 100 containers with military cargo, including sea drones, UAVs and ammunition.”
The Iskander-M system has been relied on heavily since the outbreak of full scale hostilities in Ukraine in February 2022 to strike a wide range of targets, ranging from personnel concentrations to air defence sites and enemy airfields. Use of the system increased significantly from early 2023 as enlargement of the production scale for its 9K720 ballistic missiles expanded the supplies available for the Russian Army.
The use of Iskander-M systems to target ships bringing supplies into Ukraine is far from unprecedented, with a notable prior example being the strike on the Panama flagged container ship Shui Spirit in October 2024, which was carrying armaments from the Romanian port of Constanta to Odessa.
Regarding the consequences of the missile strike, the Defence Ministry’s report elaborated: “As a result of the fire impact on these targets there was a secondary detonation of the ammunition and containers that were stored on the pier, as well as a heavy fire.”
Ukraine has continued to receive arms supplies from across the Western world and Turkey on a tremendous scale, with the bulk of its military equipment assessed to be transiting across the country’s borders with Poland and Romania.
Russian missile strikes have sought to target supplies entering the country both overland and by sea throughout the course of the war, with longer ranged cruise missiles such as the Kh-101 and the 3M14T Kalibr used to engage targets deeper within Ukrainian territory beyond the reach of systems like the Iskander-M. Deliveries of military equipment to Ukraine by sea are significantly more vulnerable to being targeted by Russian missile and drone strikes, and may diminish in the coming months should predictions for an increased Russian focus on targeting Odessa come to materialise.
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