New Delhi: Ukraine Wednesday criticised India’s differing security advisories issued to seafarers in the Strait of Hormuz and the Black Sea, while blaming Russia for the deteriorating situation in the Eastern European waterway.
The Embassy of Ukraine in India further highlighted that New Delhi is yet to respond to its request for a conversation between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha to discuss the situation in the Black Sea.
“We regret that our request to arrange a telephone conversation between Ukraine’s Foreign Minister and India’s External Affairs Minister on security in the Black Sea remains unanswered. The situation also calls for a closer comparison of the two security advisories issued by India’s Directorate General of Maritime Administration regarding the Strait of Hormuz on 15 July 2026 and the Black Sea on 23 July 2026,” the Ukrainian Embassy in India said in a statement.
The statement added: “Such a comparison raises serious questions as to whether the measures recommended for the Black Sea correspond to the level of risk faced by Indian seafarers, particularly in light of the repeated Russian attacks on civilian vessels and the loss of Indian lives.”
In its advisory on the situation in the Gulf, India’s Directorate General of Maritime Administration (DGMA) ordered ship owners to avoid deploying Indian seafarers on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Whereas, in its latest advisory on the Black Sea, the DGMA urged Indian seafarers to “exercise highest degree of caution while operating in the Black Sea”.
The Forward Seamen’s Union of India (FSUI) made an appeal Tuesday to the Indian government after the MV AMIR1, a cargo ship, was stuck in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk with a crew of 15, including 13 Indian seafarers. The ship has been stuck due to continued drone and missile attacks in its vicinity, according to the FSUI.
The Indian Embassy in Ukraine has taken cognisance of the issue and is in touch with the Ukrainian authorities and the seafarers, it said in a statement Wednesday on social media.
The situation in the Black Sea has worsened in the last couple of weeks.
At least five Indian seafarers have been killed since 18 July. Ukraine first struck a civilian merchant vessel, the MV OMORFI, killing one Indian seafarer on 18 July. A day later, a Russian missile strike on MV GOLDEN LEO left four Indian seafarers dead, and killed another six including a Ukrainian pilot.
MV AGN RAGNAR came under drone attacks from Russia as it was departing from the port of Odessa last Saturday. Two Indian seafarers, Chandra Ram Dubey and Deepak Kumar Gupta, remain missing after reportedly jumping into the Black Sea to run from the drone attacks.
Ukrainian authorities have indicated that at least 21 people have been killed in the last month in Odessa due to Russian strikes on port infrastructure. The two countries have increased attacks in the Black Sea region, while continuing to defend strikes against vessels linked to their respective militaries.
India summoned the Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksandr Polishchuk Monday over the strike on the MV OMORFI, while Russian Chargé d’Affaires Vladimir Ladanov was summoned last week by the Ministry of External Affairs following the strike on the MV GOLDEN LEO.
Ukraine made a request for a call between Jaishankar and Sybiha to discuss the situation in the Black Sea right after Polishchuk was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs.
Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for the Kremlin, the Russian President’s Office, last week said that Moscow is in touch with its “partner” India, but asserted that strikes on any ships linked to carrying arms and ammunition for Ukraine will continue to be targeted.
Both countries have intensified strikes in recent months, as the war continues into its fifth year. Ukraine was able to open the Black Sea corridor in 2023, to carry its exports from Odessa through the Black Sea, along the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria to the rest of the world.
Russia has sought to disrupt the corridor to keep pressure on Ukraine, with media reports indicating that minimal transit of ships through the corridor was witnessed over the weekend—a first since the corridor opened three years earlier.
“We took note of the recent statement by the Forward Seamen’s Union of India calling for stronger measures to protect Indian seafarers operating in high-risk maritime areas. We share its concerns and expect that our repeated warnings regarding the deteriorating security situation in the Black Sea, together with these calls from India’s maritime community, will prompt appropriate preventive measures by the Ministry of External Affairs of India and the Directorate General of Maritime Administration to better ensure the safety and protection of Indian seafarers,” the Embassy of Ukraine said in its statement.
The statement added: “The Russian Chargé d’Affaires was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs following the attack on the MV Golden Leo, which claimed four Indian lives. As Russian attacks continue to endanger Indian seafarers, will MEA summon the Russian representative once again for further explanations?”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in the US Tuesday and met with President Donald J. Trump. He witnessed the US Senate taking forward a Bill to allow Trump to impose up to 100 percent tariffs on countries purchasing Russian oil, specifically aimed at India and China.
The Ukrainian President welcomed the Bill.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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