The Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Arsenio Dominguez, has urged all parties in the escalating Black Sea conflict to exercise restraint, highlighting the escalating dangers for civilian shipping. He emphasized that innocent seafarers, port workers, and merchant vessels must not be targeted amid rising tensions, which he warned could also result in environmental risks.
Dominguez reaffirmed the importance of keeping commercial shipping separate from geopolitical disputes and expressed the IMO’s readiness to facilitate discussions that support international shipping operations. His comments followed an incident where a bulk carrier was damaged in a Russian attack in Ukraine’s Odesa region, underscoring the urgency of the situation.
The attack on the Chornomorsk port occurred amid threats from Russia to sever Ukraine’s access to the sea, allegedly retaliating against Ukraine’s use of sea drones against tankers exporting oil to Russia illegally. In response to the attack on its port, Ukraine claimed to have disabled a Russian missile-carrying submarine using underwater drones at a nearby naval base.
As the conflict continues, the safety of maritime operations remains a critical concern, with calls for dialogue becoming increasingly vital to protect innocent lives at sea.
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