During the evening hours of Wednesday, November 8, social media claims about a Liberian-flagged vessel being attacked by a Russian missile flooded Facebook. It was claimed that the vessel was hit while entering a Ukrainian port in the Black Sea region of Odesa.
A Liberian-flagged ship is a ship that is registered under Liberia as required by International Maritime Law and operates under the country’s jurisdiction and laws.
The Claim
One of those posting the claim was Francis Varney Roberts who claimed in a post shared to a popular Facebook Group Fries FM, that “Russia has fired a missile at a Liberia-flagged civilian ship entering a port in the Black Sea region of Odesa, according to the Ukrainian army.”
Rating Justification
LVL Fact Checking Desk has verified this claim and found it to be correct.
To arrive at this conclusion, we reviewed several articles published by credible International Media Institutions.
We found an article published on Wednesday, November 8 by the British Broadcasting Corporation – BBC. It reported that “at least one person has been killed after a Russian missile struck a civilian ship entering the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, Ukrainian officials say.”
The BBC quoted the southern defense forces as saying: “The Liberian-flagged vessel was struck by an anti-radar missile.”
Another report by the Reuters news agency on Nov 8, also indicated that a Russian missile has “damaged a Liberia-flagged civilian vessel entering a Black Sea port in Odesa region, killing one and injuring four people.”
The Moscow Times, an independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper in Russia, also reported on November 8, 2023 that “Russia fired a missile at a civilian ship entering a port in the Black Sea region of Odesa, injuring the ship’s crew and killing a harbor pilot.”
According to the Russian online newspaper, the “the missile hit the structure of a civilian vessel flying the Liberian flag as it was entering the port.”
Conclusion
Based on our research, we conclude that the news circulation on social media that Russia has fired a missile at a Liberia-flagged ship entering a Ukrainian port in the Black Sea region of Odesa is true.
The BBC, Reuters and the Moscow Times have all reported on November 8, 2023 that a Russia missile hit a Liberian-flagged civilian ship entering the Ukrainian Black Sea Port of Odesa.
This report was developed with the support of Internews through the USAID Media Activity project. The funder has no say in the editorial decision leading to the production of this content
