Russian military forces expanded their targeting of non-military infrastructure on Saturday, June 6, executing a high-seas assault against internationally protected humanitarian rescue vessels in the Black Sea and bombarding a civilian establishment in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Assault on Protected Maritime Rescue Missions
Oleksiy Kuleba, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for restoration and minister for communities and territories development, announced on Telegram that Russian forces deliberately targeted two small coastal rescue boats. The vessels, operated by the state-run Maritime Search and Rescue Service, were actively conducting a humanitarian mission within the designated Ukrainian maritime shipping corridor when the strike occurred.
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Kuleba confirmed that the attack resulted in injuries to personnel on board, though the precise number of casualties remains under assessment. Units from the Ukrainian Navy were immediately deployed to the sector to execute an emergency evacuation of the wounded mariners and salvage the damaged craft.
The deputy prime minister emphasized that small search-and-rescue vessels hold explicit protections under international law. Specifically, Article 27 of the Second Geneva Convention of 1949 strictly forbids hostile operations against vessels utilized exclusively by the state or officially recognized lifesaving organizations to assist mariners in distress.
“This attack is yet another proof of the Russian Federation’s deliberate disregard for the norms of international law and the creation of a direct threat to the safe functioning of humanitarian maritime corridors in the Black Sea,” Kuleba stated.
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 6, 2026
Zaporizhzhia café strike wounds two women
Simultaneously on the southern mainland, Russian forces directed munitions at civilian commercial property. Ivan Fedorov, head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, reported that an attack targeted a local café in the village of Novotroyitske, located within the Zaporizhzhia district.
The blast partially destroyed the commercial building and wounded two local women, aged 70 and 47. Fedorov confirmed that both victims were successfully evacuated and remain under close medical observation at a regional hospital.
An escalating pattern of regional attrition
The high-seas interception and the cafe bombardment add to a mounting toll of non-combatant casualties documented across Ukraine over the same weekend. Earlier on Saturday morning, Russian FPV loitering munitions and heavy artillery killed two men in the Kharkiv and Donetsk region, including a 51-year-old resident who was struck while riding a scooter to purchase groceries.
Parallel artillery barrages along the Dnipro River in the Kherson region wounded four additional civilians, leaving one man in critical condition.
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