Friday’s attacks by Russian forces targeted Chornomorsk and Odesa ports in Ukraine’s southwestern Odesa region on the Black Sea. A Ukrainian navy spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that three Turkish-owned vessels were damaged in total, but did not provide additional details.

Posting video footage on social media of firefighters tackling a blaze on board what he described as a “civilian vessel” in Chornomorsk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian attacks “had no … military purpose whatsoever”.

“This proves once again that Russians not only fail to take the current opportunity for diplomacy seriously enough, but also continue the war precisely to destroy normal life in Ukraine,” Zelensky stated.

“It is crucial that … the world maintains the proper moral compass: who is dragging out this war and who is working to end it with peace, who is using ballistic missiles against civilian life, and who is striking the targets that influence the functioning of Russia’s war machine,” he added.

Zelensky did not name the vessel, but it was identified as the Panama-flagged and Turkish-owned Cenk T by Reuters, which matched cranes and buildings to satellite imagery of Chornomorsk port.

The ship’s owners, Cenk Shipping, confirmed it was attacked at about 4pm local time (14:00 GMT). There were no casualties among the crew, and damage to the ship was limited, it added.

An employee of a private company was also injured in a separate attack on Odesa port, where a cargo loader was also damaged, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba confirmed.

He added that Russia had used drones and ballistic missiles in the port strikes, which were “aimed at civilian logistics and commercial shipping”.

Ukraine’s three large Black Sea ports in the Odesa region are a key economic artery for Kyiv.

Late on Friday, Turkiye’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the vessel had been attacked in Chornomorsk port. It added that there were no reports of injured Turkish citizens.

The ministry said in a statement that the attack “validates our previously stated concerns regarding the spread of the ongoing war in the region to the Black Sea, and its impact on maritime security and freedom of navigation”.

“We reiterate the need for an arrangement whereby, in order to prevent escalation in the Black Sea, attacks targeting navigational safety as well as the parties’ energy and port infrastructure are suspended,” it added.

Hours earlier, in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkmenistan’s capital of Ashgabat, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for calm in the Black Sea and suggested that a limited ceasefire for energy facilities and ports could be beneficial for regional security.

Turkiye, which has the longest Black Sea coastline at approximately 1,329km (826 miles), has grown increasingly alarmed at the escalating attacks in its back yard and has offered to mediate between Kyiv and Moscow.

The attacks come just days after Putin promised retaliation and threatened to cut “Ukraine off from the sea” for Kyiv’s maritime drone attacks on Moscow’s “shadow fleet” – unmarked tankers thought to be used to circumvent oil sanctions – in the Black Sea.

Kyiv says the tankers are Moscow’s main source of funding for its almost four-year-old war. It has also tried to squeeze Russian revenues by expanding attacks to the Caspian Sea, where it struck a major oil rig this week.

The European Commission hopes to pressure individual member states into approving the plan ahead of the European Council meeting on December 18-19.

However, some members, including Belgium, which holds the bulk of Russia’s frozen assets, have warned that seizing them could undermine trust in the EU’s financial system, trigger capital flight, and expose member states to legal risks.

According to Politico, the four countries announced that they “invite the Commission and the Council to continue exploring and discussing alternative options in line with EU and international law, with predictable parameters, presenting significantly fewer risks, to address Ukraine’s financial needs, based on an EU loan facility or bridge solutions.”

On Friday, the EU invoked its rarely used emergency powers to circumvent potential vetoes from Hungary and Slovakia and made the asset freeze indefinite.

Although Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Malta supported the measure, they reportedly stressed that the “vote does not pre-empt in any circumstances the decision on the possible use of Russian immobilized assets, which needs to be taken at leaders’ level.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called Friday’s vote unlawful and accused the commission of “systematically raping European law.”

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico also condemned the move, arguing that “providing tens of billions of euros for military spending is prolonging the war” between Ukraine and Russia.

Russia has stressed that seizing the assets would be tantamount to theft and vowed to retaliate. On Friday, the Russian central bank initiated legal proceedings against Belgian clearinghouse Euroclear, which holds the bulk of Russia’s foreign assets in Europe.

Kiev’s Western backers froze about $300 billion in Russian central bank assets after the conflict escalated in 2022. UK banks hold around £8 billion ($10.7 billion). A sharp dispute has emerged between European nations pushing to use the frozen funds as collateral for a ‘reparations loan’ for Kiev and those firmly opposed, citing legal and financial risks. Moscow has condemned any attempt to use its assets as “theft.”

According to the FT, senior UK bankers have also objected to the plan, warning that using the assets to guarantee loans to Ukraine would leave them vulnerable to legal retaliation from Moscow.

“We’re concerned about the legality… the government is setting a new precedent because they have never seized assets in this type of way,” one senior banker said.

“Russia will sue for them.”

“The legal risk is that if Ukraine doesn’t pay back, you need to repossess an asset that the government says is yours but Russia says isn’t,” a banking adviser added.

“The expectation is that this is not a loan but a gift, and banks know they will need to repossess the underlying collateral.”

The bankers warned it would be “a near certain default event” and fear they will be “left out to dry when Russia sues.” UK officials declined to say whether the government would offer them any indemnity.

The UK’s plans for the assets are coordinated with the EU, which holds most of the funds. On Friday, the bloc is due to vote on a move to indefinitely immobilize the share of the assets in its jurisdiction under an emergency legal mechanism that would keep the funds frozen until Russia pays post-conflict reparations to Ukraine.

Analysts say the emergency clause would override objections from countries opposed to using the assets for the ‘reparations loan,’ which EU states are set to vote on next week. Belgium, which holds most of the funds, has fiercely opposed the move. France, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Slovakia have also objected to seizing the assets.