Fatal strike on Mykolaiv port: two Ukrainians killed aboard a ship

Early on Friday, 17 July 2026, Russian forces attacked the port infrastructure of Mykolaiv with strike unmanned aerial vehicles of the Shahed-238 type. The Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported on the consequences of the enemy strike.

The attack damaged three civilian vessels under foreign flags. At the time of the strike, they were moored at the facilities of the city’s port enterprises.

“In one of the strikes, two Ukrainian citizens who were on board a foreign vessel were killed”, – the prosecutor’s office clarified. 

A pre-trial investigation has been opened on the fact of violations of the laws and customs of war that caused deaths, under Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Prosecutors, together with investigators and other law enforcement officers, are working at the impact sites, inspecting the damaged vessels and the territories of port enterprises, and documenting the consequences of the latest Russian attack.

The pre-trial investigation is being carried out by officers of the Security Service of Ukraine in Mykolaiv Oblast.

Earlier we reported:

• Two people killed in drone strikes in Mykolaiv region
• Fire engulfed 25,000 tonnes of oil after a strike on a port terminal
• “Two strikes – and there is no maritime logistics”: on Russian airwaves they threaten the ports of Mykolaiv and Odesa
• Three merchant vessels hit by Russian strikes near Odesa ports: a cook was killed
• After a Russian strike on the port of Chornomorsk: a 6,000-ton sunflower oil tank was destroyed