00:21A Russian drone hit a Chinese ship last night, not an American ship, not a European one,
00:28a Chinese vessel owned by a Chinese company, crewed entirely by Chinese sailors, sailing near Odessa in the Black Sea.
00:37And in less than 24 hours, Vladimir Putin flies to Beijing to sit across from Xi Jinping.
00:44The timing could not be more awkward.
00:47The ship is called the KSL Danyang.
00:51It's a bulk carrier, the kind of massive cargo vessel that hauls raw materials across oceans.
00:56It was flying a Marshall Islands flag, but the owner was Chinese, the crew was Chinese,
01:02and it was heading toward Ukraine's Pivdinyi port to load iron ore.
01:07Overnight, a Russian Shahed-type drone, the Iranian-designed weapon Moscow has used thousands of times in this war,
01:15struck the vessel near Odessa.
01:18No crew members were injured.
01:20The ship remarkably kept moving toward port, so the damage appears limited for now.
01:26But the incident?
01:27The incident is anything but limited.
01:30Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came out swinging almost immediately.
01:35He posted on X that Russian forces could not have been unaware that the ship they were targeting was Chinese
01:42-owned.
01:42In other words, Kyiv is not buying the accident theory.
01:47Ukraine's Navy spokesman Dmitry Plotinchuk went further,
01:51openly mocking the idea that Moscow could frame this as a mistake.
01:54He asked publicly what could have possibly motivated Russian forces to strike a vessel so clearly linked to one of
02:02their closest strategic partners.
02:04It's a pointed question, and right now, neither Moscow nor Beijing has answered it.
02:10Here's why this matters beyond the immediate damage report.
02:14Putin lands in Beijing tomorrow, May 19th, for a summit marking the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Friendship Treaty.
02:23The two leaders were supposed to be celebrating their partnership.
02:27Now, Xi Jinping has a drone strike on a Chinese vessel to bring up before the appetizers arrive.
02:33No statement yet from Moscow, no statement yet from Beijing.
02:38But somewhere in the Kremlin tonight, someone has to explain to Putin how a Shahed drone ended up hitting a
02:45Chinese bulk carrier
02:4612 hours before he boards a plane to go shake Xi Jinping's hand.
02:51And somewhere in Beijing, Xi Jinping already knows.
03:08Subscribe to OneIndia and never miss an update.
03:13Download the OneIndia app now.
03:16OneIndia
03:17OneIndia
03:18OneIndia
Comments