KYIV, UKRAINE — Russia on Sept. 12 fired a missile that struck a Ukrainian civilian vessel in the Black Sea that was carrying wheat destined for Egypt, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a social media post on X. He said there were no casualties, according to preliminary reports.

Zelenskiy said the vessel was outside of Ukrainian territorial waters when it was struck. An industry source told Reuters the grain vessel was hit in Romanian waters near the mouth of the Danube River in the Black Sea.

“Ukraine’s food deliveries to African and Middle Eastern countries are critical,” Zelenskiy said on the social media platform. “We will continue to make every effort to safeguard our ports, the Black Sea, and food exports to global markets. This is Ukraine’s true priority — to protect life — and it should be the priority of all countries. We are waiting for the world to react. Wheat and food security should never be targets for missiles.”

Ukraine, one of the world’s leading wheat producers and exporters, has been exporting about 4 million tonnes of grain a month via its Black Sea shipping corridor, which was set up in the summer of 2023 after Russia pulled back from the Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by the United Nations and Turkey. The corridor is located along the western Black Sea coast near Romania and Bulgaria.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it has targeted Ukrainian grain infrastructure throughout the country, particularly at the Port of Odessa and on the Danube River. In the first five months of the war, Russia executed a blockade that prevented Ukraine from exporting grain. The blockade was lifted in July 2022 when the Black Sea Grain Initiative was signed, but Russia withdrew from the agreement a year later and intensified its attacks on grain storage and handling infrastructure in Ukraine.