Svitlana Halchenko still walks with a limp after a Russian ballistic missile explosion at Odesa's main port left shrapnel in her leg and back. The warehouse shift manager said her crane operator partner died five metres from her, and the driver also died in the cabin, as the Black Sea port campaign pushes closer to the people who keep Odesa moving.
In July, Ukraine's port administration said there were 57 Russian attacks on civilian vessels and 67 hits on port infrastructure. It said 22 of the attacks on civilian vessels happened at sea, while attacks on international vessels had happened before but never so numerous or so deadly.
Golden Leo and July's toll
A Turkish-owned cargo vessel named Golden Leo was struck by three Russian missiles on July 19 while carrying Ukrainian corn. The strike killed nine Indian and Syrian crew members and one Ukrainian pilot, and the vessel sank off Odesa a week later. Lloyd's List said July was the deadliest month for merchant seamen since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, and also said the Black Sea may now be the most dangerous place for shipping in the world.
Paul Adams reported that Russia is trying to strangle Ukraine's commercial links to the outside world by attacking Black Sea ports. The approaches to Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi are described as almost devoid of ships, a sign that the pressure is not limited to a single strike but to the routes, schedules and crews that depend on keeping those harbours open.
Odesa port workers under fire
Halchenko's account shows how quickly that pressure reaches the quayside. “It's been very difficult for morale,” she said, adding: “A lot of sirens, a lot of shaheds [drones], a lot of hits. People are very tense.” Her job continues at Odesa's main port even after the blast that killed her colleagues and injured her.
Despite the port's heavy damage and fear, Halchenko says she is determined to keep working. That resolve sits beside the July figures: civilian vessels hit at sea, port infrastructure struck on land, and crews on Golden Leo killed while moving Ukrainian corn through the Black Sea.
Marine Transport Workers Union of Ukraine
Oleg Grygoriuk, Chairman of the Marine Transport Workers Union of Ukraine, said his members are suffering. The union's warning matches the pattern in July: more strikes, fewer ships approaching Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi, and a shipping corridor that now forces crews and port workers to weigh every movement against sirens and drones.
For port workers and ship crews, the immediate next step is not a diplomatic meeting but a harsher operating reality along the Ukrainian Black Sea coast. The unanswered question now is how much longer Black Sea shipping and Odesa's port operations can remain functional under the current strike campaign.
